The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Qatar GP Race Review

Episode Date: November 30, 2025

OH BOY! The LB trio break down the race in Qatar that has left us with a three-way title fight going right down to the wire! They run through the timely safety car, THAT McLaren strategy fumble, a very frustrated Piastri, plus an unexpected Williams podium… 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

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Now lease a 2026 rogue S for 0.9% for 36 months or get $4,000 cash purchase bonus on remaining 2025 models. Visit your local Nissan dealer today or nissan.ca for more details. Conditions apply. 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 well welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage, Harry Ead and me, Ben Hocking. Oh boy, Qatar review time.

An exciting Grand Prix, maybe, maybe not. But an exciting championship still very much alive going into Abu Dhabi. Lando Norris down in P4, Max Verstappen taking the win. Oscar Piastrian second, Sam, all three drivers. Still in with a shot. Did you ever think that we get to Abu Dhabi? You're going to be seven wings for Max, seven wings for Lando, seven wings for Oscar. You saw it coming, did you think?

Yeah, sure, you're bloody little liar, you know, rascal. Why didn't? This is sensational. Larry Landau Fangs, little part of me, was absolutely gutting when Kimmy Ansig any rank-wide, because I want it to be that close in Abu Dhabi. I just want it to all come to a head. I was butterflies the whole way through. Qatar, I didn't know you can make me feel such a way, but you did.

It's one time only. I was very excited. Harry is excited, my friends. I'm a good time. I enjoyed that, and I hate to admit it. McLaren, you're a bunch of idiots, but also, thank you so much, because that would have been an absolute howler if they hadn't not stopped under the safety car. still was a howler.

There still was a lot of howling. No, that's what I mean, but it was like, it was a little bit quieter, like, ooh, not like, oh, like a bad ghost on Halloween, rather than like a wolf at the moon. Exactly, correct. So thank you for that, McLaren, I guess. Thank you for being stupid in that respect, because it made something, it made it something to watch. I mean, that's two weeks in a row where McLaren have been stupid in one way or another. First, the disqualification, now this. And if it weren't for either of them, if they could.

have had one out of the two of them, they'd still probably be all right, and this championship would be done and dusted. As it stands, though, championship absolutely not done and dusted. Lando Norris, still with the advantage. The first driver, over 400 points on 408. Max Vastappen now 12 points back. Oscar Piastri, 16 points back. So, it leaves a very interesting situation. It's still alive for Lando Norris to finish third in the Grand Prix at Abu Dhabi and come away with the championship, regardless of what happens to Vostappan and Piastri. But Sam, some of that buffer has now gone. Let's talk about how it happened, because everyone's talking about that lap seven safety car,

the decision for nearly every single driver on the grid to come into the pits, apart from the two leaders of this race, Piastri and first, Norris and second. In hindsight, not a great move. I'd like everyone to join us, please, in our prayer circle. Thank Pierre Gasseling and Kahlkenberg for spicing up the Qatari Grand Prix. So thank you to you, brilliant, gorgeous, wonderful men. Yeah, that was a really interesting choice. And this is a game where McLaren, right?

Like, where's the thought process? Why are you playing this Papa rules now? It's too fair. And by being too fair, you are screwing over both of your drivers simultaneously. Let them make a choice for themselves. It was clear that Piastri and Or Norris could have coming in that time. got the job done, come out at least behind Max Verstappen, but on the same strategy on the track

where they could have fought wheel to wheel for at least one of them to go and win. I can't lie, I was absolutely gussing for Piastri. He ran this weekend. He was sensational through sprint quality, sprint race through actual quality, and then up to that point and after that point. And McLaren, who once again fumbled the bag.

It's just so bad. It's so reactive, not proactive. It's so, you have such. ability to think on your feet. And when I said this in our preview for the weekend, because they've got two drivers to think about, I think it really costs them. Max Mustafa could just go out all in full risk,

you know, throw everything at the wall, hope something sticks. And it did. They threw something at the wall. And it stuck. And he comes away with the full points. I'm gutting for Piastri. And Landon Norris must be walking away from the last few weekends going,

oh, I'm not nervous, but I'm a little bit shaky. You know, it is getting a little bit close. McLaren throw this one away, Harry? A hundred percent, they thrown this away. Firstly, F1 scriptwriters, I'd like to thank you. Stefano Domenicali, obviously, our fearless leader. Thank you for bringing those in. It's all fake. It is a script.

Like, this isn't... Because the safety girl came at the optimum... Like, it had to come on lap southern no sooner because the 25 laps wouldn't have worked out. So, thank you to them. But, yeah, McLaren... Maclaren fumbled the bike. here completely, and not that I want to be smug about this, but I think we have correctly

criticised McLaren for their papaya rules, fair racing nonsense during the course of the season. And it's come back to bite them because Andrea Stella came on to Sky after the race before we started recording this to say that the reason they didn't pit under the safety car, both cars, is they didn't want to stack Norris because that, you know, That basically means it would have been unfair on Norris. Well, congrats, Andrea, you lost the race because of it. And it's this stupid, it has to be fair for both of them, you know, exactly fair for both of them,

has come back to bite them. And, you know, Piastri has lost a race win. Norris has lost a potential championship win today, but also has lost a big chunk of his lead, and it's now only 12 points, as you say. So the worst part is if Piastri had won it, I mean, what, 10 points got back to Landon Norris? So they've cost us.

The viewer, the most important part of all of this. Late breaking has been cost a juicy, juicy finale. We are suing. We're slewing McLaren, correct, Ben. Black Brown, I'll see you. No, I won't. No, I won't go well. I'll done for not finishing that sentence.

I will see you at the end of the season. When you come on to the podcast, it's a dear friend of ours, I'm sure. You cost us to juicing us, and I want the juicing us, and you're throwing away the grape is no juice. no juice grapes it's a raisin it's a raisin and I wanted the chips

I look McLaren it was it was bound to happen at some point but their cautiousness their their rules of racing rules of engagement

have cost them a race win and an opportunity to wrap this title up once and for all so good effort guys no doubt no doubt whatsoever

because Piastri quite comfortably had the pace to win this Grand Prix the fact that he's only finished, you know, under 10 seconds behind Max Verstappen at the flag, even if Fastappen is managing in that final stint. Piastri has the pace to win this Grand Prix.

I have very little doubt about that. And what you said, Harry, about Andrea Stella's comments on Sky immediately after the Grand Prix, that's maybe what's annoyed me the most about this, because he's saying how they can't double stack, and it's like they have to treat their drivers exactly the same way, even if they are sending one of their drivers off a cliff, the other one therefore has to follow the first driver off that cliff. And it really annoys me because this could have been easily managed behind the scenes before this was even a situation in the Grand Prix. Piastri and Norris are not stupid. They know that the other driver is as passionate about winning this

championship as they are. They have had one goal, and that is to be a Formula One World Champion for many, many years. And they respect that each of the other also has that. objective. You can just easily manage this by saying before the Grand Prix, before the last few Grand Prix, if Piastri is leading the way, or if Norris is leading the way, they get the first call on pit stops. That's always how it's been. This situation could have easily been managed to say, look, Oscar, we have an opportunity to box here. If we don't take that opportunity, it will go to Lando Norris. He will then have the opportunity to box if we don't. And then Oscar Piaastri can in the car with some data from his engineer, make that call. If he wants to risk it

and stay out, then he knows Norris is going to be the one to pit instead of him. And equally, he can then stop. And Lando Norris can't then turn around and complain and say, well, I couldn't stop because he was already there. Yeah, if you qualified ahead of him, you'd have had the opportunity instead. It's such an easy position to manage. And McCarr... Consequences for your actions. They've messed it up. It is pure Norfolk Ward where he says some of you may die. Thanks a risk I'm willing to take. And that is Stella right now.

Either you all die or we all live. And currently, McLaurin, you are living literally by the sword and dying by the sword. And Max Verstappen is the sword. So enjoy that. You're lost again. Again. Yeah. And that proper wound me up that comment because I just think you could really, as adults,

just manage this situation quite efficiently. And instead, Max Verstappen takes over. Oscar Piastrian second in the championship and has a very realistic chance to be a world champ. Do you know what it was really telling as well about this call is that Sky had James Vals on the pit wall this weekend, obviously not team principal for Williams,

but formerly strategist for Mercedes. And they were like, oh, James, would you have brought your drivers in if you were at McLaren? He's like, yeah. Yeah, that would have done, actually. Because the entire grid came in. It was just McLaren that didn't come in the pits.

I know Ockon didn't, but Ockon, I don't know. what they were doing with Okon, to be honest, so who cares? You must stay out for as long as humanly possible. It's the rules. It's all the rules, okay? That's a separate story that's going into Netflix. Do the opposite of everyone, and then, but also copy them, sure. But yeah, it just is so telling that they were the only team that literally didn't stop.

They were the only ones on this alternate strategy. It was a gift. It was an absolute gift for McLaren, because when we were going into this race weekend, anyone who knows anything about F1 strategy was fixated on lap 7 and lap 30. because essentially that was the earliest you could come into the pit stops in order to then still do a two-stop strategy with that 25-lap maximum on a set of tyres. So all the strategies would have been fixated on lap 7, lap 32.

And a absolute gift because McLaren, who had the fastest car, they were first and second comfortably, didn't have to think. They just had to go into the pits as soon as that safety car comes out And then the rest of the race is by the numbers. Like, they don't have to think about strategy. They just have to go into the pits again on lap 32. And that's job done. Instead, they've somehow managed to mess this up.

I give them credit for one reason, which is, imagine if McLaren did pit both drivers. I don't want that version of this Grand Prix, because that would have been a contender for worst Grand Prix of all time if it weren't for McLaren. It still, I don't think, was a very good race. but if McLaren decided to do what everyone else did, I don't think we'd have got any action.

No, for a viewer point of view, we have all been asleep. You can wake up on lap 57 and go, oh, how'd you hung up a puncture? Ah, that must be the most exciting part of the race for the entire day. It was that boring. It was still top five. What? Maybe top three, mate. Genuinely, maybe top three.

I'll tell you what, though. Oscar Piastri, he seems so defeated. The fact that he was first example and further on, and now his third, the work speechless over his post-race radio. The way he spray... I've never seen a man spray champagne more miserably in my life. You know, he's up there. Rightfully so.

Yeah, champagne. Honestly, miserable. I think he did quite well to rein it in, to be honest, when he was being interviewed by Martin Brundel. Like, you could tell there was a lot more he wanted to say, Harry, and he decided not to. Yeah, that's probably the closest we've got to an Oscar Piastry meltdown, isn't it

which in itself wasn't that scary but he was seething and quite rightly so because his only opportunity was really I know he stood in the hunt as we're going to the last weekend of the year

but his opportunity to try and claw this back was to win both the races we had here this weekend he did the sprint and he was probably looking on course to do the double with the Grand Prix as well if they had pitt him

when they literally pit the entire field because they'd have all been on the same strategy and yes, it would have been the world's worst Grand Prix. I know it was up there, but it would have truly been the worst. But Oscar Piazsche would have taken that win. So he is quite rightly cheesed off, I think is probably the expression. I might be stealing moment of the race submissions by saying this,

but maybe the icing on the cake from Red Bull side was sending Hannah Schmitz up to the podium, of course, leading the strategic call after this race. and that leads us on to Max Verstappen, because Sam, even though Maclera might have handed this race to Vastappen, he still had to take it, and he was a long way clear of anyone who wasn't the two McLarence. Ah, that little moment, putting Hashmits, the Queen of Strategy,

on that polio when they have royally mucked up their strategy in the other side of this fight. Oh, good Lord, that is perfection. That is cinema, as the meme displays. he was good, Max Verstappen. I don't think the car was there. End of point. End of point.

He was good. And that's the podcast. Thanks for listening. The way he got the start done was spectacular. The launch that he got off the line to get alongside Lando Norris. And Oscar Piastri and him played that like a beautiful, beautiful pair. The way that Piastri clearly boxes in Norris, so he can't get into the inside properly. And then Verstappen was able to go, away around the ass.

outside. No problem with all. Thank you very much. I'll take second place. And because of the nature of this racetrack, once the overtake is done, you basically can't ever get close enough to overtake ever again. So it's fine. That's it. Race done. And at that point, Philan and Norris went, okay. Excuse me. I'm going to die. No. No. The guitar has killed me. That's the reaction. A little joke's like, I'm going to die. I'm out. Peace. Don't want to worry, everyone. Might be dead. Right. Anyway, as I was saying,

at that point, Landonor is in third place. So he's thinking, all right, that has not gone well, but in third place, I can still win this title in the next race,

right? Come third again, no problem. Punky Dory, I'm going to all kind of world champion. And then it just gets worse because he isn't able to get the gap the second time around

to pull away from the likes of Carlos Sites and Antigali. It was close enough with Fernando Alonso to begin with, you think, oh, he's got away with it once. Did he get away with it twice? No, sir. He's got to get part. past two more drivers to get back to this coveting third position that he needs.

Lando's going to be breathing a side relief that Kimmy Antigelli is run wide. That must have been the best moment of his whole season to watch out of the saying he's had a little bumwiggle out of the corner and drift off to one side and he gets through for P4 because those two points got to be so precious for him walking into the final race of the season with an ever so slightly larger gap. Now he can finish in third comfortably, whereas before it was 10 points. And at that point, he's got to be finishing well. into the podium, hopefully trying to win that Grand Prix.

Now it can be a little calm, a little bit more restraint. So not a good weekend at all for Lando Norris. I think he gets a little lucky right at the end of it. I think we mentioned this, Harry, on the review we did yesterday, that Norris didn't seem to lack pace this weekend, but seemed to lack consistency, seem to lack that feel. And it always felt like he was maybe a corner away from something going, not horribly wrong, but just something slightly wrong.

He didn't seem to have that lap-on-lap consistency that his team it had. Yeah, I would agree with that. It just felt like there were a few, I don't even want to say errors, to be honest, but there were just a few moments this weekend, obviously not getting the lap in in qualifying the start today. There was at some point during the race,

he had a mistake whether he got any damage on the curb, TBC on that one. If it did, it was minimal. But, yeah, it just never quite came together in the same way that it did for Piastri, which is probably why Piastri was so frustrated because I don't think he did anything wrong at all this weekend. But for Norris, yeah, it just wasn't a smooth weekend.

And I think it's easy to say, you know, the pressure's getting to him again. But it is these moments. It is these moments that can swing a World Championship. And we don't blame the drivers at all for the decision on the strategy here. but when you have made these mistakes as you've said Ben earlier

if Norris are qualified better then this issue doesn't necessarily exist but when these are these sorts of errors and then something like the McLaren strategy decision comes along it just compounds things so yeah I think he'll look back and be frustrated

with his own performance this weekend it was in no way terrible at all but it just quite was it wasn't quite the the momentum we've seen from Norris of late. I feel like it was Piastri's best performance versus his teammate in a very long time. You have to go back to, I think, at least Zamvore and maybe even further back than that.

Further back for me, further back for me, yeah. Entirely possible. There haven't been that many recent occasions where Piastri seems to have had that advantage. And Norris, I don't want to say he got lucky, but he got the better of the first two pit stops that McLaren did. he was the one that got that 2.2 second, which was absolutely vital.

Because if that is, I think, three seconds, he is having to overtake a couple of cars, which he might well have done at that point in the Grand Prix. But we saw later on in this race that that McLaren wasn't particularly suited in a straight line to making overtakes. Even with that in mind, Piastri gets the overtake done quite clinically on Kimmy Antonelli when he needed to. Norris struggled a lot, lot more than, of course, Piastri did. So, yeah, it never seemed like he was quite comfortable with the car.

But equally, that move that, well, I don't even know if we call it a move, that position he gained on Antonelli late on. That is, as you said earlier, Sam, a really important couple of points because now he can stick to that third place finish. Don't need to worry what anyone else does. And that's still good enough to win this championship. But it's a lot less comfortable than what it was. with Norris having like a target

to actually hit now to win the title it's almost like he's got his mindset or hitting the target rather than just winning the Grand Prix and there are a couple of instances in this race where I think his own mistakes have cost him the start wasn't particularly good enough he was bailed out for a good pit stop by having poorer pace to get away from the likes of the Alonzo train

and then later on in the Grand Prix where he runs wide and causes himself damage to the car due to the gravel and the off track and damages his pace because of this all of these things are self-inflicted and he's been bailed out a couple of times now, bailed out by the pit stop from his team and bailed out again by Kimmy Antigelli running wide

because I don't think he's getting past any other way if Kimi Antigley managed to just bring it home the way he was the previous lap. So the fact that he's still got the least he does going into Abu Dabing, there's a little bit of luck at play for him, I think. Maybe a little. I was fine with Norris not being more aggressive with Antonelli, though, because I know that commentary were quite adamant

that he needs to get by for this champ. He needs those couple of points. that reeks of desperation if he is desperate to make that move. Like a DNF is still going to cost him way more than finishing fifth would have done. Imagine the crash. If Anteilly had crashed into him, God, that would have been devastating for him. He's still in the driver's seat, so to speak, going into Abu Dhabi. So I can understand why he was a bit resistant to make that lunge up the inside of Antonelli

in the same way that Piastri would. But very exciting as we get to Abu Dhabi. A preview, we're obviously going to have a preview midweek. Those three drivers, Norris for Stappen and Piastri, going to be at the forefront of that. Let's take our first break on this episode. On the other side, there was someone else on that podium, I think. Welcome back, everyone, to the second part of today's review. We've discussed the championship contenders,

but let's discuss a driver that has got his second podium of the season, that of course being Carlos Sines, picked up a podium not that long ago at Baku, and he becomes the first driver in just over 10 years, exactly 10 years, to get multiple podiums in the same season at Williams. Of course, his first ever season with the team. Sam, Carla Sines, we mentioned this on the qualifying and sprint review yesterday. He seems to have really come into his own. He stepped up and once again, the smooth operator.

That team, oh, did they bless the reins down in the pit lane? Because that man, as the famous lyrics go by Toto, that man got the perfect pit stop. They fed him out into such a brilliant little gap that meant that he was able to execute the pit strategy so well. Start seventh, moves up to third place. Benefits, of course, as well from the pace being delivered consistently and then Landon Norris falling behind him, being held up, of course, by Kimmy Ansigli behind me, he's not challenged.

But he is just running with it. He's so consistent. He's so comfortable with the car now. He's out driving Alex Albon every single weekend. And I believe he's now ninth in the driver's championship and only nine points behind Alex Albon in the championship as well. Wouldn't have said that a few moments. ago.

Well, not, at summer break, no chance. I've gone no way you're getting close to him. He's well and truly done you. But now they're right by each other. Did we all put Carlos Sikes in teammate wars? Funnily enough, I was looking at teammate wars results the other day, getting ready for the end of season review that we'll have. I think we all went with the same driver.

I think we all weren't with signs, but I could be wrong. Gosh darn, it was hoping for maybe one of us would get a sneaky little point there. But fair play to you, Carlos Sites, because he's pulled it back out seemingly out of nowhere. He went through a real rut in the mid part of the season, and it looked like he was really struggling to get to grips where his teammate, Albon, was thriving, regularly in the points, regularly getting top five finishes in the early part of this season. And now it's Sines who's got the two podiums

is the first issue he said for a decade to pick up that greater result twice in one season. Harry, I think with Carlos Sines in this Grand Prix, I know he gets that brilliant pit stop that sees him ahead of the Mercedes and the rest of his midfield rivals. There was still probably a part of Williams and maybe anyone watching that was thinking P4 is on the cards here. I know McLaren are on a different strategy.

They've probably just got the pace to finish second and third. Fassappan's going to be first and we'll settle for fourth. But it sounded like in the car, Carlos Sines, he's a big brain guy sometimes as Carlos Sines. And I think he knew P3 was still on the cards. Yeah, I was going to make this exact point. And again, this is exactly why James Vals and Williams signed Carlos Sines here. because we saw this quite a lot whilst he was at Ferrari and needed, given Ferrari.

But he's doing a lot of the driving of strategy and of the way that he goes about racing from the car. Sorry, when I say driving, I mean leading, not physically driving. He's obviously driving the car. But yeah, this was a superb race from him. And I think as soon as he clocked that Norris had come out behind him and Antonelli, He knew it was game on for that podium.

And there were a couple of messages from him on the radio saying because obviously he was in some sort of management mode towards the end to guarantee that P4, which I assume that's what Williams were asking him to do. But yeah, as soon as Norris came up behind him, he clocked that actually if he pushed on here, he was going to get a P3. So superb effort from him.

Obviously the bit of damage he picked up on the curb at some point towards the end of the race did hamper his progress. to be honest and he ended up doing what I thought he should have done anyway by backing up Antonelli I think that didn't really hamper him too much Norris didn't clearly have the pace to get past Antonelli without the mistake from Kimmy

and signs had enough enough in hand so very well managed very well executed and yeah what a second half of the season he has had versus the first so yeah congrats to him and when Lewis Hamilton was signed at the beginning of 2024

war. Would you have bet on that one, two nil, going into the final round on podiums? I'm not sure I would have done. It's right. He can still pull it back. You know what, Ferrari probably think he can. Yeah, they probably didn't. If he gets second and then LeClaire gets third, we could give him both the podium.

Yeah, that's how it works. If it was how it worked, I think McLaren would cook up something, but there we go. Sorry, this is actually not even relevant to the race. I just saw a clip on social media earlier, which I forgot to bring up because we had the discussion about spring and qualifying. During qualifying, when Hamilton came back in to get his time's change

between his first and second run, they forgot he was out there. All the Jacks were just out in the pit lane, and he just had to stop and wait for them to clear out the box so he could get back into the box. Just brilliant. They need a communications director in Fassel. And it's Ricky.

It's Hamilton literally explodes. Oh, yeah. A tough day for Ferrari. But not a tough day for Williams. And I think I can actually hear James Vow's chuckling from here about his masterminding of the situation. How has he managed to get Sines and Albin going into next season? That is a great bit of business. He's getting vindicated for that week on week because Albin had the great starts of the year.

Carlos Sines is having this great second half of the season. And Sines absolutely deserve that podium. This was all about track position and it was all about management. But as proven by Antonelli, by Hadja, I'm not saying it was Hadjar's fault, by Alonzo, there were multiple instances of drivers either making errors that let someone else go by or the tyres failing on you. It wasn't completely easy for someone like Sines to hold off a faster Kimmy Antonelli behind. Yet he was able to do that with relative ease.

There was seemingly that sort of one and a half second gap between Sines and Antonelli for much of this race, almost to the point where he pulls away a little bit before getting drawn back thanks to that damage. But yeah, I thought he managed this brilliantly well. He wasn't confident going into this weekend. He thought that the way in which the Qatar circuit is with these sort of medium-speed corners that Williams have been struggling on those corners all year, and this might be one of their tougher tracks. And I'm sure he will be first in line to say, I'm happy with how wrong I was. Fifteen, very valuable points. It was kind of done anyway, but that puts, that ICE's fifth place for them in the championship

quite comfortably at this point, clear of the rest of sort of sixth down to ninth, which is really close. So well done to Williams for a good turnaround in this last year of the regulations. And Carlos Sines has played a really big role in that. What about Mercedes, Sam? Because Antonelli is kind of trying to put the pressure on Carlos Sines for much of this Grand Prix. looked like he was really using those tires in the last 10 laps and maybe that's ultimately what's cost him a couple of points here. It's a really tricky one to evaluate from the say this point of view because start that go well for George Russell in particular,

gets swallowed up actually by Kimi Antigella who gets in fact of him very early on and he's never really a presence again towards the front of the field. He gets caught up badly in the way that the double stacking has to work in the pit stops. It ends up causing him to fall properly into the pack of Fernando Alonso. So it just means that he's essentially neutralized. He's sit there with Charlotte Clare from the majority of the Grand Prix. And look, when you're driving around next to that Ferrari,

it means that you're not having a very good day at the moment. Kimmy Ansigelli, on the other hand, he had some real highs and he had some difficult moments. I think his start was fantastic. It got himself into a place where he really could challenge. And in a alternate universe, it's Kimi Antigelli who's on that podium. And I think realistically,

the Mercedes probably should have had the pace to be on the podium if Carlos Seitz is making that happen. But negatives for Kimi Antigelli that he's not able to keep up with Carlos Seitz and Williams at a track which Williams themselves have stated that this was going to be their most difficult weekend of the whole season with the way that they build their car and the way the track focuses on such heavy downfall through

in these high-speed corners. I did think that Antigelli over the course of the race would have been able to close down Carlos Seitz, although it is incredibly difficult to ever take care. And then we've seen this before with Kimmy. He is looking so good. and he burns through his tires, faster than people around him,

and it costs him. I do think that was probably the reason why he had that kind of turn nine, turn 10, double wobble that put him outside of the track limits and allows Norris to come through. He drops down to fifth place rather than challenging sites actually for the podium.

So it starts well, and as the race goes on, it tapers off. Oh, Harry, I've just learned from a really reliable source. I think it was a GP Lambiasse. Kimmy Antonelli actually let him through. I know, it's all the streets were saying. Yeah, yeah.

The amount of posts on social media or on X, I should say, about that and that have then had to walk themselves back once they'd actually seen the replay. F-1-Uxed? Yeah, F-1-Ux. Passions run high, don't they, in football one sometimes. I really do. Yeah, it was a clear mistake from Antonelli. Martin Lerner, sorry, Corrine Chandar, on Sky, sort of walked us through the replay,

and he gets a first wobble and then a second wobble, because he's all out of position. Wobble? Yeah, exactly. Maybe not. But, yeah, so for Mercedes, I think missed opportunity here today because, yeah, for Antonelli,

that podium was potentially on towards the end, especially with the damage that was going to be hampering signs. For Russell, I mean, that just, his race just unraveled so quickly. Once he had that mistake of the start where he lost at least two places, I think, and then we had the first safety

car pit stop where he lost even more places. It was just kind of, it just kind of gave over for him from there. So if we say Anthony Lee had potential pace to get on the podium, I think Russell definitely did. So I think they'll rue that, not really much of an error for Mercedes part, just through a race not going their way.

Yeah, it didn't take much for a race to be derailed here. And Mercedes is kind of proof of that. Because of how difficult it was to make these overtakes happen, you had, you know, Antonelli lose a spot in the pits and you had Russell have a bad start. And that's all it took for Mercedes to be quite a few positions, I would say, off of what was their potential. And that could be said for maybe the entire midfield.

After you get through the McLaren's and Max Verstappen, I'm not sure pretty much anyone else actually got to show how quick they were. It was just one long DRS train to start and then as soon as the tires went off, a slightly more than DRS train. But Mercedes, I mean, George Rush, was just stuck all day, and part of that is down to the start.

But I don't think we ever saw apart from those last two laps where he didn't have Hadjar in front of him. I don't think we actually ever saw what he could have done. He had the one opportunity or the half opportunity around the outside of Hadjar earlier on in the race. But outside of that, I just don't ever really remember seeing him in cleaner. I told you the poor combination of having tyres that wear out so quickly, you can manage to two stop and a track where you can't do literally any wheel to wheel race.

well shall we move on to driver of the day the verdict is in you're the driver of the days you're the driver of the day you're good at driving sam it was max vastappen who took the popular vote are you agreeing with them or offering up a different name i'm going oscar piastri that wing was lost got through his own doing but through the team's cowardice you heard me and uh i I feel like they dig him dirty. And he was the best driver out there on the way of the track. By far the fastest, by far the most competitive, cut through the traffic, the minor traffic that he had to get through.

That overtake on Antingale, ruthless, got the job done immediately. And he closed that gap down to Max Verstappen, incredibly fast. Unfortunately, just with the way the tires are, and the way the track is, it was just going to be enough after their team blunder. Harry? I'm going to agree with the popular vote. I'll go for Vastappen. I think Piastri is a very, very fair shout.

Carlos Seines is also another one. But you knew that this was going to be a good day for Vestappen because we heard from him once, and that was about it. He didn't say a word. And if you compare that to the rest of the weekend where he was just on a pogo stick apparently bouncing around, yeah, I think it was always destined to be a good day. He did everything you need to see.

Obviously, the strategy cool made it for him. But Vestappen still had to execute it, And he had some really excellent pace out there. So I'll go first step. I can barely separate the podium on this. I think all three of them are very valid shouts for different reasons. I ended up with Oscar Piastri as well, Sam, because I do feel like he was robbed of this victory. And to be that much better than Lando Norris on such an important weekend, that says a lot about his character and how he was able to bounce back.

But equally, if you want to give this to Vastap, and if you want to give this to Carlos Sines, very valid. Very valid. What about worst driver of the day? Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. Ben, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. You suck and driving. Harry, who've you got? I'm going to give it to Pierre Gasly

because even though he literally made this race, you still run Holkerberg off the road. It's an interesting point of view. Okay. Yeah. Fair that, mind. Sausage. Sausage army, get ready.

We'll take this man down for the blasphemy. It's definitely not Pierre Gasley. It's Nico Holgerberg. Because whilst he ran around the outside, my guy just drove straying into a car, which clearly left plenty of empty room for him to drive into. So... I'm going with Pierre Gasley.

Yeah, he doesn't agree with me, Sam. Sausage Army, we have two targets. I am part of the Bacon Army. Elizabeth is up already. Yeah, there wasn't much in the way of bad racing because there wasn't much racing to actually review. So I feel like it had to be someone who either caused an incident or gave themselves a penalty, which narrowed it down to a few names. And of course, Landstrol is out there. Landstrol gave himself a penalty through speeding

through the pit lane. Ockon had a start line infringement and he got a penalty. But yeah, I might put the incident on Gassley rather than Halkenberg, so I'm going to go with Gassley. Hot dogs for you ever again was I really like hot dogs Big Brainschran Game over for you Oh Bob

We're gonna 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 Later he may pass you What

He crashed out He's not even in the race Sam of you got Now I got a lot of messages in Discord being like, oh, slam dunk on Big Rain, slam dunk, you know, it's going to be McLaren. I'm going to leave that one. I'm going to leave it.

I had to go digging for this because I wanted to make sure that I was going to do some accusations correctly. Why is Lance Stroll the only man that can't make it to the right lap to pit? He didn't have a puncture, nothing wrong with the car, just couldn't keep the tyres alive enough to get to the same pit lap as everyone else, which means he had to stop three times, the second of two. And then he spared in the pit lane, getting a penalty. So for me, that's the big bank strap.

Yeah, I've got no idea why he did that. I don't know whether it was strategic to try and help out Fernando Alonzo, whether it was to literally just try something different because he was in no man's land. But yeah, he was one of the very few drivers to pit three times. He also tried the fastest, not that it would have got him a point. He tried the fastest lap. And I think he was fastest in the middle sector.

And then we didn't see the purple next to his name, which meant that final sector can't have gone brilliantly well. Harry, your big brain strut. I am torn. I mean, again, I feel like the McLaren one is so stupid. It's almost like not worthy of this award. I am torn between Espanokon and Hasse not putting him, then pitting him, then him getting a penalty and having to pit again,

all under one safety car. I'm going to go for Fernando Alonzo backing the entirety of the field up, then sodding off. it working out perfectly, then spinning, losing two places, finishing one place above where he started in the end. Sounds about right. Perfect execution of a race, yes? Sure.

I reckon that's swinging Alaston Martin, right there. The Ockon one is a good shout because I was trying to understand what happened here. So I feel like he came into the pits on the same lap as everyone else did, lap seven. and then he also comes in on lap eight as well. And my instinct here is they served the five second time penalty, knew they did it incorrectly, so did it again the second time. This hasn't been confirmed or anything.

I'm just guessing. I feel like that would make sense as to why that would happen. I thought Ockon didn't appear because he was in front of the Stappen briefly. Yeah, he was. He was. Yeah. I thought he came in on lap eight and then lap nine, but I could be wrong.

So you said seven and eight. I'm sorry, yes, my bad. Eight, nine, yeah. I could be wrong on that, by the way. It might have just been once, but... I've got real beef with their fun teams that can't time their penalties properly. It's weird.

How do they keep getting this wrong? How do you keep getting it wrong? Just time it to five and a half seconds and accept that you're going to lose some time rather than another five seconds, take a penalty. Because he started on the medium tyres, then came into the pits,

was on hards for, I think, one lap and then came back into the pits again for medium tires. So I feel like, yeah, maybe they did try and serve the penalty and then didn't do it correctly, which is why they were on an investigation, but then it disappeared because they did it right the second time round. On the Ock-on penalty, by the way, it came up on the screen as, like, moving before signal.

Doesn't normally just say false starts? Yeah, it doesn't change that. Why? I don't know. It's just the world we live in now, isn't it really? Madness. It's confusing you to be confusing. I'll go with McLaren strategy because, again,

I don't know what this race would have looked like if that didn't happen. And I don't want to imagine it. Well, let's take our second break on this episode. On the other side, we're going to get into the midfield scraps and also a bit more of a chat about Qatar as a racetrack towards the end of this season. Welcome back, everyone. Already alluded to before the break was Aston Martin and Fernando Alonzo's Day.

Now, it looked like he was very much managing his tires in that first stint to the point where he was leading a very long DRS train. And then towards the end of the stint, he decided, okay, now I might just go off into the distance to create a gap. Very good strategy, Harry, apart from the bit where he spun. Yeah, it was all going so well. I, you know, as Fernando Alonzo, head of the fan club, I'm intending it was just even doing it for style points and he was bored. But, yeah. Well, championship points pretty worth a bit more, though.

Style points would be more important in Fernando Alonzo's world, apparently. But, yeah, it wasn't great from Fernando that one. He was on for a good result. I think this is, we'll go into my broad position, but I think Master Martin were pretty strong here this week. end and probably have not maximised that somewhat. But the race was going, I think, as well as I think it could have been for Alonzo. He obviously gained at the start and then did his backing up trick, which he loves to do now.

But it's like the most Fernando Alonza thing ever, why bother trying to go after cars that you can't catch? Just back everyone else up and then wear their tires out and then just run off. So up until the spin, it was going really well. He obviously still finished one place, sorry, above where it started, but it could have been a lot more. So, that'll be disappointed in that. But I quite frankly, I'm not sure Alonzo cares that much at the moment. I think Sam, it was a pretty good strategy until it wasn't.

It was very effective in that he knew, agile behind him, I think might have been the slowest car in a straight line. We saw yesterday in qualifying, he was a demon in the middle sector, which of course means you are going to give up something in a straight line. And he knew that, managed for two-thirds of that first stint until deciding, OK, I don't want to be undercut. I don't want to be in a position where it's close at the pit stops, because he couldn't be undercut.

Did that very effectively. And it was only then the spin that sort of undid his day, but not horribly so. This is vintage for Andrew Alonkso. Display the meme of Monaco track map where there's like five cars on their own. and Alonso has a trade of like 15 cars stuck behind him. He's been doing this since I was born. And that is only 30 years ago, for those who are very confused. That's right.

He's been around a long time. He's been deploying this strategy a long time. I forgot how long so savvy in the sense that he knows who and where and when he should be fighting for places. There's no point chasing down Maxis Stappen. There's no point chasing down to McLaren's. His race at best is what, fifth or sixth if the race is smooth sailing? and he was on track for a very, very strong finish.

The spin custom, and it's a shame. It's a shame that it did cost him because they didn't feel like he could have been on for some really strong points. And Aston Martin need those points because in this fight that they're having with the RB team, in the fight they've got with Hars, behind them, of course, as Salber around them, picking up eight, ten points, we're going to be really beneficial for them. He's at that slide.

But fortunately, it's come at a time where every other midfield team basically dropped the ball at the same time. I think it was a game of who could drop the ball the least. Astor Martin's still managed to do pretty well because of Alonso's efforts. Yeah, looking at that, could shut his championship. So Aston Martin's seven points clear of Hasse. Alonzo by himself this weekend got eight points even after the spin. So that has helped them out versus Hasse.

And of course, Hadjar's tire going boom with two laps to go. Boom! Has very much hurt it. No, Doom. It's very much hurting because there's 12 points separating racing balls and then Aston Martin behind their. So racing ball is still the favourite there, but could have been a lot more comfortable going to Abu Dhabi

than what it was. What else in the midfield? Charlotte Clare got P8. That's a midfield car now, Sam. I was literally thinking this when we're watching the race. Ferrari is a midfield car. One driver in the points, one driver out of it. And I think he's lucky to get P8, if I'm totally honest,

because I don't think it looked like it was going his way. It didn't look like a total dog or a pig to drive by the sense that we never saw him. He didn't run wide. multiple times in one lap, and he managed to finish the race. But as we shared in our group chat, the way that his engineer is having to encourage him because he's the fastest in one corner, at one point of the race, tells you just how far this Ferrari has sunk.

P8's really sorry for this Ferrari after how bad the weekend's being. It's depressing. He's talking about like, this is in particular after qualifying, but he's talking about like the level of risk he needs to go to in these qualifying sessions where, of course, he spins because he is having to give 100% of the car to finish 8th or 9th. And it's just so demoralizing to hear that because Charlecler has had a few mistakes in qualifying before. It's usually been because he's chasing pole, not 8th or 9th. He takes four points here,

Harry. Hamilton, of course, 12th place that doesn't score at all. There's no way to prove or disprove this. But I think in Hamilton's, how many year career, 18-year career now, 19 seasons. Has he ever been featured less on a broadcast than today? Honestly, potentially, no. Not at all. I barely saw him. Right.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Like, normally if he, like, if he doesn't qualify well or as a bad session, whatever, he's fighting his way back through, but he's just stuck here. Yeah, he's stuck. And he loses out on the pit stops. Another clip that I shared to the podcast group chat was him exclaiming mid-pit stop, how poorly his race is going.

He doesn't use the word poorly. He uses a different word beginning with S. Yeah, terrible, terrible day. Terrible weekend for Ferrari. Charles LeCleur. Honestly, four points. That car doesn't deserve four points. I don't think it deserve any points.

So they're lucky to even come away with that. I'm just doing some maths on the fly here a second oh no I think Ferrari have lost third in the championship they're 40 they're 44 behind behind Red Bull and still the Abu Dhabi upgrade boys it's not going to be right yet

reinstate the fastest lap 44's possible come on wait Louis Hamilton could win twice in the same Grand Prix surely they believe that could happen oh Ferrari we we live in hope that next year might give you something different. The stat earlier on today as well, that if LeClau doesn't win in Abu Dhabi, it will be four out of seven seasons at Ferrari winless.

This is a very, very painful year to be a Ferrari fan. You know, the famous phrase, you can ever see someone sounding a Ferrari. Look at those two men. Man doesn't know LeCler exists. Someone posted earlier on that the happiest those two have been in a Ferrari this series in that Lego. car that works.

Surprise they haven't tried to use it, yeah. That's what John Elking's talking about. He thinks that's the Ferrari. That looked great on track. What are these people talking about? They were so happy. They were flying along. The engine is put it together really well.

Anything else from the midfield? Catch your eyes, Sam? No. We didn't see any of it. It was boring. The Alonzo spin that we've just referred to, by the way. There was not a lot of action going on on track. it took us how many minutes to see it happen?

Honestly, I could have seen it now. It wouldn't have made any difference. There was a moment, I think, between Hajar and Russell? Yeah. I'm watching the timing tower going, this would be great to watch, wouldn't it? And what annoyed me, at the start of the Sky broadcast, they have the audacity to throw up an advert that goes,

and don't forget to scan the QR code, where you can join Sky's battle channel in case you can watch all the wheel to election that you might not catch on the main broadcast. What else was happening that you couldn't show us? What else was going on?

Side note on broadcasting, by the way, the timing tower, when it was so obvious that the gap we were all watching like the McLaren to the rest of the Alonzo Q, why did it take so long to throw up that tie at that time?

Nez, I'm doing mental arithmetic. I'm not much mental, man. No idea. There was one incident in the midfield and that was quite early on between Pierre Gasley and Nika Holcomberg that of course

caused the safety car that has given us so much to talk about on this review. Harry, how did you see it? Well, he didn't. Because his eyes shatving.

Sausages in the eyes. Oh. You know what about this? That's paper content. It really is. As already mentioned, I think Pierre Gassie was at fault for this one.

It was, we've seen a few incidents at that corner previously where cars had been sort of nerfed off or cars have

come together it's sort of the way that that that corner rolls through is slightly banked as well

but it means that they sort of connect a bit on the exit I'm with I'm with Holkeberg on this one he gave him

all the room on the inside here and Ghazley's he's running to him so I'm putting it on Ghazley I'm saying it's

it's it's it's kind of a racing incident but if I'm going to put blame on someone I'm going to put it on Gassley so it was just a bit clumsy in the end wasn't it and with Holkenberg on soft ties it was clear he had more grip hence why he was even able to go around the outside

like we didn't see that again this race did we maybe apart from the Russell attempt apart from the Russell attempt yeah so yeah maybe in in retrospect Gassley might have let that one go but it ruined both their races in the end, so.

This discussion, by the way, has just reminded me of this very corner last year, Kevin Magnuson getting past Alex Albin and him going off and us creating Keith Magnuson and he just wants his kids in the back to shut up. Oh, Michigan. Yeah. Yeah, I saw it the same way as you did, Harry, but Sam, based on your worst driver of the day vote, I think you're on the other side.

this. I don't know what you're not seeing. My guy is turning full to the right. He has the corner. Holgerberg is trying around the outside and he's never fully alongside until almost the point they make contact. There is room left on the outside. I'm watching the replay right now. There is space for a car to be there. Hulkabur comes across at the last moment as he starts to get the grip on the exit. I guess I think Gassie's driving the racing line. I think Holkker comes across him. For me, this is on Hulk. He's got the bag of tires. He should have sat back and waited. I think Gadsley's right to try and hold on, because with how difficult it is to overtake around here, holding that someone off once is enough to hold them off for the whole Grand Prix.

They might not get another chance. So I think it was a racing instinct if I'm going to have to actually put my true verdict out there. But I think it's ever so slightly more on Hulk than it is, Gassie. Do you think the stewards, obviously, Gassley was still in the race after the incident happened? So he was there to be penalised if they wanted to. And they decided not to. does that imply that they maybe thought this was more on Holkenberg and the DNF was penalty enough?

Even if that's not the right way to judge it, is that maybe the way they saw it? We've seen them do that before, where they think the reaction of the accident is enough punishment for what happened. No, I think they saw this as a racing incident. I do truly believe that's probably really the right call, actually, then it is a racing incident.

It was scruffy from both drivers, but yeah, I do think that I put this one episode, something wrong home. Fair enough. Before we move on to a moment of the race, permission for a hot take? Yeah, please do so. We need one today.

This is the worst track on the calendar. There you go. I'm not sure it's hot. I mean, given we've got like, I don't particularly like Jetta, I don't like Abu Dhabi. I don't like Monaco personally. I think this is the worst one on the calendar. Everything else has something going for it. You know, like Jeter is just chaos, amplifying.

You know what? I'm fine. Morocco has got at least the historic cultural effect of F1 being there for so. long. And Abu Dhabi, at least you can make an overtake, at least you see someone get past someone, and the pit lane goes on the racetrack,

which is kind of cool. It's a cool quality lap, but it's for motor cycles. You hate anything that is a gimmick. That tunnel under the pit lane exit. What has that given us since 2009? Nothing. Hope.

Absolutely. It's been a hoaxium. Yeah. I hope someone crashes in the tunnel. Never going to happen. We've seen some bad. F1 drivers in our time and none of them have done it. It's not happening.

What a single one has even grazed the wall. This track is, this track's for motorcycles. And I don't even mean that disparagingly. Like, I think this is probably pretty good. The reason it was built. Yeah, right? And qualifying, I thought it was good. Like, it is entertaining to see these cars go at 100% around this track.

But for actual racing, which is why we're here, it doesn't work. It flat out doesn't work. The F2 was dull. Yeah. Well, Harry, the reason I'm annoyed about this, I think more than anything, is that the last two races of the season are here in Abu Dhabi. There are probably going to be quite a lot of eyeballs on what's happening that aren't usually on F1 based on this championship still being alive, three drivers going into the last race of the season with a shot for the first time in 15 years. And this is the way we greet potential new customers is this race. That's why I hate it. well and exactly and at least at least McLaren gave us something for this race the sprint yesterday what a load of crock that was that was awful I know we don't like sprints anyway but yeah it's it's it's a terrible track for Formula One and annoying thing is like many of these you know new tracks that we have built in in the Middle East like Bahrain for example

Abu Dhabi so many different layout options we can choose from and we're not. We're just using the same one. Why? I'm old enough to remember when this was only going to be temporary and we were going to get a new circuit in Qatar. When is that? When's that coming? 20,000 and never. Okay, fine. Can't wait. Perfect. God. Should we review our bold predictions, see if anything has changed. Sam, what was your bold prediction? I said that landing or us were not finishing the top five in both the spring and the race. And guess what? They're getting both. He did.

He had a worse weekend than he's had in quite a while, I would say, but not quite as bad as you would have needed field bowl prediction. Unfortunately. Don't worry. I think mine was worse. I thought Hass would be all right here this weekend for some reason. I've had a stinker. Old bands up.

You say was yours? I was right. I said that Bairman would be top seven in both races. Behram was having a solid day as well. So we apparently drove over what? The other horse car in the pit lane. I still don't know what he was. Well, they never showed us.

I've got a feeling that they didn't have the rear left tire on, and that's why it was sort of bouncing in the air. And he just drove off. See you later, guys. Is that why you got the stop go? It seems unfair. Seems harshing it. Green light go.

Oh, I can't. Thanks, guys. Yeah, and then just probably retired after that. So I was, I've been close on a few of these this season. I wasn't close to that one. Harry? More thing. You can do it.

I said that Aston Martin being the top five in one of the races, and you know what? I mean, Alonso was P4 in the sprint quality, wasn't they? It seems to be a bit of a repeat of these, particularly the sprint weekends, where Aston Martin look brilliant to start things off. And they don't end up horrible, but they kind of come back to the mean a little bit. But... Yeah, never mind.

I think that was a solid shout. We've got one more opportunity for bold predictions, of course, that will come on Wednesday, our preview episode for Abu Dhabi. let's take our final break on this episode on the other side moment of the race welcome back to the final part of today's review of the Qatar GP it's time for moment of the race Sam what is yours What is mine? It's quite hard to pick one where there were so few.

So I am going to go for Landon Norris sounding a little bit worried over the radio where he's entering here is desperately telling him to say you're doing the thing again with the accelerator lando, can you stop doing the thing? I don't know how, I can't.

I need help. I can't. And you know what? Heart goes out to that point. He's chavoured with fashion before his eyes. I just get some out of place. There's nothing left. So, yeah, it's quite amusing.

That is, I'm picking out the weakest pile of moment the race is going on. Harry? Mine is SkyF1 specific, so apologies for those who don't hear that commentary. But David Croft, main commentator, realizing on lap 39, the Vastappen might be in the pound seat here.

I was like, are you having a bubble sign? You should see the penny drop as well, can't you? You hear it where he goes out, I'll make it. Heart of Brunner's like, yeah. A hundred percent, yes. I'm saying this for 20 laps. What are you talking about, man? Is he the favourite here?

Yeah, maybe. Use your brain, David. If you yell at the TV. It's like to stream. Shags of cloud. Streaming us watching the race. Just getting annoyed at David Croft. I forgot how much I'd know it as well.

Cheers. Thanks for that. Stress. My moment of the race was Carlos Symes trying to. to hold off Antonelli and Norris for the last five laps, especially because I know it took a bit of damage to get some intrigue, but Carlos Sines wasn't sure about whether he'd have the pace in those last five laps with that damage to hold them off. I thought it was quite intriguing

to see, quite entertaining, and Carlos Sines being able to hold him off on the four-year anniversary of Frank William's passing as well. So it was a lovely moment, a lovely podium, but a nice fight to get there. It wasn't easy. It was capped off by David Croft explaining that Carlos Sykes has invented slip streaming behind them, which I thought was expert analysis. He has, which, you know, give him credit for that. Well, thank Carlos.

Well, those are our moment of the races. What about the Discord, Harry? Yes, we have had so many submissions for this. Being undated with letters. Yes. So thank you so much for all of you that submitted. If you didn't get on, it's just we want a lot of and there's just so many of you.

First up is DJ Spin to Win. What's Robin, everybody. It is DJ Spin to Win. My moment of the race for the guitar Grand Prix was when decided to pit their cars except for the McLaren's. What idiots.

Anyways, shout out to the Williams. Shout out to Alonzo. Max is a goat. Sam helps old ladies across the street. Keep breaking late. Oh, that's kind of you, mate. I can confirm. I actually do that every weekend.

I'm not packed into that. That's more regular than you're toast eating. What's more beneficial to mankind? That's how I measure all of my actions. Also just using the Backstreet Boys clip for the one word and just never, like, use this to elaborate after. Yeah. Do you want to rock your body to also be part of that?

What do you want? Just for, like, I've got the word everybody in this. Therefore, I need to use a clip for just the word everybody. Nesslimest margin to use a clip ever. Yeah, I respect that. Thank you for that. Next time, we have Rath. Moment of the race.

Fantastic, Mr. Fox, Trane Conductor, Yano truly reincarnated Fernando Alonzo. Also, the McLaren strategy team, because are we sure they're not working in, asleep and not woking? Anyways, great race.

Oh, God. That is fine line between great and awful. No, no, that's tripe. That is. It is. That is. But also. I can't rate it.

Yeah, right. Also, a fantastic Mr. Fox. Shout out. Fucking all the references to this evening. Next, I'll be have Hazer. All right, boys. My moment of the race was David Croft on lap 39, saying, with surprise,

for Stappen might be the favourite to win. Geiser, the guy's been one to six on Skybet since lap seven. Honestly, sort it out. Cheers, boys. One to six on SkyVet, boy! I love that. I just tracking the odds through the race.

I bet you're watching this in Coral. I couldn't have said it better myself, and I tried to, but you've really hit the nail on the head. You didn't say Geese are enough, Harry. Otherwise, that's good. Next stop is. Norm from Texas.

Oh, hello, my late-breaking friends from across Lake Big Went. It is me. Norm from Texas, and I'm angry. McLear and how do you do this? Ding that! Anyway, keep breaking late. Action got recording. You can just hear him from Texas song on recording. He brought out the D-Bob.

Not the dinged, bads. Yeah. And bats have been dinged. Thank you that, Norm. And I hope you'll pressure recovers soon. Nitro Nick is next. Nitro Nick here. Moment of the race for me. Max's overtake on turn one right at the start of the race,

letting Lando know right away who his daddy is and that this isn't over until next weekend. I love you, Daddy. Yeah. I love you, Daddy. That's what I'm worried from Max, though. That ultra-aggressive, getting alongside, get the job done.

That is what I want to see. As soon as he was like a quarter of the way alongside there was only one way that was going is that i will not back out of this yeah uh next up we have hoser f1 who i believe is a first time submiter what's going on everyone hoser f1 here first timer uh moment of the race for me was my boy smooth operator on the podium um and his race engineer dropping an f bomb on the radio after the race and then going Sorry for my word. Oh, is that a Canadian accent that I detect?

What's that accent? This is, you never mentioned Canadian before. I'm out of a boot. It's great to hear someone from Dublin, Ireland, to have a conversation with a Canadian. It's all the same. Yeah. All lovely people.

There's that big wet thing in the middle, but apart from that. Stop skip a good shop Thank you for that hoser F1 and I hope Sam's accent hasn't put you off from ever listening or submitting again I hope it has to be removed from our Liskership Thick Broncos is next Hey guys, Thick Broncos here very quickly, moment of the race

the absolute poop-eating grin that Max Verstappen had when he'd finished his interview with Martin Brundle, he is the goat. He is coated in the goat sauce and I can't wait for next week. The goat's soft. Last but not least is Georgia from Georgia. Hey all, it's Georgia from Georgia and my mom in the race was the concept of a 15-person DRS train. Thank you, Alonzo, for I think doing the Lord's work. She has written underneath this, or it could be Satan's work, unsure. Concept, theory and practical

deliverance of a 15 Kardier S train. Yeah, that was great. I'm not sure I've always seen it ever again. No, thank you. Cheers, Alonzo. And thank you to all of our Discord submitters. Thank you very much indeed.

Last opportunity in the next week, at least for 2025, to get submissions in. So we'll have under pressure submissions on our preview on Wednesday and the final moment of the race submissions after Abu Dhabi on Sunday on Sunday. I think that's going to do it, Sam.

I'd tell you what, these people listening, they're going to want to stick around because the next week of content or so must listen. What's happening? There's something going on. There's a championship to be decided.

Oh, silly me. And then you have a special voice to say championship finale. Oh, I'll save that. Yeah, exactly. Nothing is like, we'll tease that then and make a special voice.

It's just him doing his own voice, I promise. Nothing will change. Thank you for listening. folks, and if you want more content to talk about this thrilling Catar Grand Prix, then you can subscribe to Patreon where we've got power rankings coming out

tomorrow where we go through every single driver and we rank them all. I'm pretty sure everyone maybe by like three people, pretty get five, so, you know, tune in to see if that's true. You also get your historic race review, you get your two extra episodes and you get loads of other bits and pieces, including birthday shoutouts, where you could hear

your name said by the Father Christmas of birthdays at the end of each month. So, hey, tune in, have a go. Thanks for everyone, enjoy so. Get in Discord. Come on. Join it for Christmas. And we'll see you

midweek for the Abu Dhab preview. In the meantime, I'm SamuZam. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. This podcast. This podcast is part of the Sports, Social. podcast network.