The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Spanish GP Race Review

Episode Date: June 1, 2025

The LB boys break down the wild conclusion to the triple header in Barcelona, where Oscar Piastri claimed a stunning victory in a race packed with drama. From varying strategies to a surprise safety car, controversial moves and an even more controversial penalty - they it cover it all! 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 Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing today the Spanish GP 1 by Oscar Piastri from Pole Position in a McLaren 1-2. And that's it, Sam. There's nothing else to say. another classic boring Spanish Grand Prix

God, thank God we're getting madring next year. Sike! That was saucy, spicy, full of drama. Loved it. Much to talk about. Harry Ead, thoughts please. Well, I said to you both off air before we started recording that I've worked out of the way to solve sprint races now

is that you just put Max Verstappen on the worst tire and then let him do what he wants. Off you go. Spring races, would it always be fun to watch. No rules for you, my friend. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it wasn't turning out to be the greatest Spanish GP, but still interesting nonetheless. And then Mercedes decided they didn't want to have an engine that worked again. So thank you for that. Kimi Anthony. You spice things up massively.

Yeah, 10 bonus points for you, Mercedes. Thank you for your service. Yeah, there was a very interesting end to the Grand Prix. I always find that how eventful a race has been can be judged based on how long or shorted takes for me to do a schedule. That was quite difficult because there's so much to pack into this review. So let's waste no time at all and start with McLaren. Oscar Pastery, starting from pole position, Sammy got a very good start to this race and pretty much controlled things from there. How impressed were you with his performance? Yeah, what was really insightful was the way that Nika Rosberg actually walked us through the practice start in the formation lap because, you know, we don't hear that too often. It doesn't come over the radio too often, but he asked how is his launch,

his practice launch and the fact, you know, he was 1% off of his clutch, perfect, a clutch alignment. He was too slow at delivering the throttle on the clutch. And then apparently, that's all the advice that Oscar Piastri needs, because it comes to the actual start. And those start lights, by the way, did they ever actually go to firebread lights? It was so quick to go green. I was just like, oh, we're off.

Okay. And Oscar Piastri, apparently the only man awake to actually get going. What a start that he had. And actually, arguably, that's what cost Landon Norris, any chance at taking victory here today, was that he did not get the jump that he would have wanted, meaning that the likes of Max Verstappen got in front of him, he was being challenged by Russell,

almost Lewis Hamilton as well, who managed to have a bad start, I think simultaneously have a really good start at the same time. But essentially, that's what won this race for Oscarbriastri. Once he'd gone out into the lead, it was not being held back by the dirty air of the cars around him, able to set up that four or five second lead, which yes, it came down a little bit,

but I think it only came down through him managing tyres, and then straight back up again. It was always in his control, He managed it, and Asden McLaren really brilliantly. It never felt like, even with the safety car restart, that Oscar Piastrow is at any risk of throwing this one away, a really professional, well put together, getting the job done kind of victory.

And that's what you want when you're the championship leader. Harry, of course, Lano Norris has started to close the gap a little bit over the last few Grand Prix to the point where it was just three points separating the two drivers going into today. But now Piastri, back to double digits, 10 points advantage over Norris. How impressed were you with his performance? Yeah, super impressed again by Piaastri.

And, you know, not that Monica was a big dent to his confidence at all, but he obviously wasn't clearly wasn't the quickest all weekend there. This weekend, I think he's always, I know there are points when Norris looked like he might pip him, but I think he's always had, you know, a 10th or two over his teammate. I don't, I need to find other objectives that also mean cool, calm and collected, because I can't keep saying that about Oscar Piastri, but that is literally his style. And he reminds me a little bit of Alan Prost in the way he goes about a race

because he doesn't have to go off and build a 20 second gap. He's happy to just build a four second gap. And then even when we saw the likes of Vestappen and Norris chip away at it a bit, he lets him come out of them a couple of laps. And he's like, I know, I do have pace, bye-bye. and then builds that gap up again. He lets him, you know, he teases them. I think Crofty says something about dangley a carrot on a stick,

which was, you know, I guess. You're wrong about that for way too long. I was like, why I'd be still talking about carrots? But, yeah, the way he goes about his race is so intelligent in that respect that it does remind me of a bit of Pross. So, yeah, a very, a very controlled win from Piastri. And even when it could have gone, could have. gone wrong at the end with the safety guard. He still

kept his head pretty well, got a great restart and just went off. And again, as he said, the start, Sam, it was not that it won him the race, but it could have easily lost the race. And I think that's probably the case for Norris there where it has lost in the race. So, another, another great race from

Moscow Pastry. Yeah, that analysis is spot on. He has really developed in that area coming into this season where he can dictate a Grand Prix like he did today. The start was obviously a question mark

going into this race because he didn't get a good launch at all at Monaco. A far more important launch is the Spanish GP. The rundown to turn one, apart from Mexico, I can't think of another turn one where it's a longer run. So you need to get that great start. He did.

He wasn't threatened at all. And then as you say, Harry, it always felt like Gastri's pace was like a five out of ten. And at any point, someone behind him like Norris or Vestappen went to a six or a seven, Piastri just raised it to a six or a seven. And then he dropped it back down when he didn't need to. It was very well managed in that regard.

And we know how powerful the undercut was here to the point where you really wanted two second, two second gap or so probably would have got the undercut done. So to avoid a bad pit stop, raise that to three seconds, that's kind of the gap that Piastri left himself this entire race. apart from the very early stages when Vastappan threatened and overtake once or twice, he then built the gap out to three, four seconds, and that's where you know that you can be comfortable. Not just about Piaastri, about Norris as well,

but the end part of this race, I know there was a lot of drama involving Lecler and Russell and Vostappen, and oh boy, we'll have comments on that in a little bit. But the other thing that's maybe not getting spoken about as much, those McLaren's went. They just bolted. They were nowhere near LeClellan. at the end of that race.

And there weren't many laps after that safety car came in. That's slightly ominous. I just want to shout out my guy, Christian Horner. Thanks for a champion in that technical directive, which is clearly made McLaren even faster than what they already were before Spain. So thanks, my guy. We've now got a less competitive championship because of you. Appreciate it, mate.

In the words that go over to Big Rob Marshall. What loss. What loss. What loss. There ain't nothing coming out of this car. What loss. And you would start on you after a pub fight as well. He'd come out after his last pipe and chuck his beer on the floor.

Come on, for no reason. No wasted beer. We're on Marsha. He's shouting in that. It's just for glass. I don't know that anymore. He downs the glass as well. Lando Norris finishes his runner-up in this Grand Prix.

As already referenced Sam, he had a little bit of work to do early on as he lost out to Max Verstappen. But after he gets by, again, seemingly a fairly comfortable run to second place, not able to challenge his team. emot so much, but equally able to minimize the damage. So how do you see his race? Yeah, he had a bad start, right? And that was the kind of the spark that led to a race where he was constantly having to play catch up and have a little bit of damage limitation there. Well, it's such a tire-aware heavy track, especially those front lefts and the re-s, it can be quite real limiting. In the heat that we had there, the fact that we were considering multiple three-stop strategies up and down the grid. And also, of guys, how bloody wonderful is it to hear the words three-stop strategy as a genuine conversation point.

I know, it's great. I mean, Yuki Sonoda might have been on a nine-stop, to be fair. But yeah, the three-stop strategies, bring it on. Yeah, three-stop as a serious thing, wonderful. But that shows you just how heavy the tie-wear can be here. And because Landon Norris was caught up behind Max Verstappen, it just meant that he was always at a disadvantage. She was ranging in dirty air.

He was trying to clear him as soon as possible, which wasn't as easy as it looks. because in the initial phase of this Grand Prix, Max had some pretty good pace, despite the McLaren being much, much faster as an overall machine. And that just meant that for the rest of the race, he always was at a deficit. And that's a difference between a great start and a bag start. You lose out.

So whilst I think that their pace was very, very similar, you know, the gap kind of always remained about this three to five second boundary. And never looked like Oscar Piastricht spite was dictating that Grand Prix like a heck of an orchestra. You know, he was a bit of like a maestro there that kind of ran the show. Norris was always there to ready to turn up the wick, I think, when it needed to be, but he could never get closer. He never got further away, but he never got closer.

So while their pace is so close, it is one small moment of a Grand Prix that can make the difference between winging it and finishing second. And on this day, it goes to Oscar Piascri, who's had a really flawless weekend. But I think Lando will come out of this triple header, feeling all right. He's closed the gap overall.

Technically, the point stack between Piastri and himself is smaller, leaving the triple header. And he's done well in two out of the three. So I think he'll come out feeling good, feeling confident and then going into Canada where he's done well previously, he could take the fight back to his teammate. Harry, was the race lost from Norris's perspective in qualifying or could he have done anything on the day to try and get by Piastri?

Yeah, look, I think Landon Norris saw the 2024 Spanish GP and went, I'm going to do that again. I like that, so I'm going to do that exact thing all over again. I don't think qualifying lost it because he was on the front row. But in the same way, and Ben, you referenced this in the preview. In the same way, he lost that time last year behind George Russell to Max Verstappen. He lost that time this year to his teammate being stuck behind Max Verstappen. So it was the start.

I said it earlier. I think it was the start that lost it for, the lost it for Lando Norris. because he could never, as Sam said, they are such, it is evenly paste him and him, Piastri that any time he did chip away at the gap, Piastri could just, just pull away again.

So he was never really able to do anything about it. Obviously, the safety card did bring it back to him, but, you know, Piastri had track's position, he got a good start and just left and they were on the same, same tires by that point. So yeah, the start is what sealed it for me. I don't think it caught qualifying. I think obviously starting on pole would have been better,

but had he had the same start, he would have lost it anyway to Piastri. So I don't think that really makes much of a difference. It was to start the letter down, as we have seen often from Norris, but admittedly not in the same way this year. So it was kind of a bit of a lapse in that sense. Amosam, I think overall after this triple-head,

I don't think he can be too disappointed. I think it's been a good three races for him overall. He'll obviously have wanted to keep chipping away at the gap to Piastri, which he's not done. it's not gone the other way again. But going into Canada, it's not an awful position to be him. He just needs another couple of races like Monaco to regain that gap. Yeah, I tend to think whichever of the McLaren drivers was ahead out of turn one

was going to go on to win this race, just based on how even their pace seemed to be. And that's an area for Norris to work on is those starts and also qualifying. you know, it's not every week, but we discussed in the qualifying review how Piastri was able to hook up that lap at the end of Q3, whereas Norris wasn't. And I think that's what's ultimately cost him. But from Norris's perspective, it was still a very good race. He still had a good pace. And there's a long, long season still ahead of both of them. And the gap is 10 points.

It's nothing. So he can't, again, it's all about not getting too up or down after results and just keeping an even keel because there is. a long way to go in this championship and he could still very easily turn this around and end up winning this title. A quick note, Sam, on the strategic side of things from McLaren, because they did have Verstappen and what was shaping up to be a three-stop strategy to contend with. Do you think McLaren along the way managed that as they should have done? Yeah, I do think the two-stop ending up being the overall better strategy and it helps where you've got such great pace in the car that you're able to do this and they are so good on their tyres. But by running continually longer than the

expected pit strategy window told us would happen from Pirelli at the start of the race. People thought, you know, maybe you'd be off that soft tie by lap 19, maybe lap 20. They managed to run to kind of lap 22, lap 23. And if you do that every single point of the strategy, you buy yourself another three laps, and then another three laps. And come the last thing, you've got an extra six or seven laps in the bag. It just ends up being fastening a three step where you're constantly having to push. And if you're constantly having to push, like the Stappen was, in a car that isn't 100%

comfortable at a track where tires wear so quickly, you're constantly, playing to a disadvantage, you're constantly working to a limiting factor, which doesn't allow you to compete. I thought Maxwell Stappen did a really good job at being in the mix, at asking the question, be a part of the conversation. But because he was on that three stop, it meant that later wrong, as we then found out with the safety car coming out, he was immediately a disadvantage. Because he had used up his better ties, tried to execute his three stop strategy, he's got nothing left when it came to the last 10 laps of the race, had to go on to hard tires, which were so uncompetitive in comparison to those around him. And it just meant he fell away. So, yeah, I think

using the three-stop, put yourself at a risk. I think the two-stop with a little bit of management was by far the better strategy and well managed from McLaren. Yeah, I think they managed this very well. I have to give McLaren credit because I haven't always been very complimentary of McLaren strategy over the last couple of years. But they had a clear idea of what the quickest way to go racing was today and they stuck to that and there was a very easy route to not sticking to that. As soon as Vastappan came in for new tires on lap 14, I thought one of them might follow him in just to cover that off whereas the other one might have gone longer. I give McLaren credit for realizing actually we've got the pace in the car. We still think the two stop is the right way to go.

We're not going to change our strategy based on what Vastappan is doing and we'll beat him on track. and that's how it happened and also how it was heading, I think, even if you ignore what was going on with the safety cars. So, yeah, I give a lot of respect for McLaren on the day. Harry, strategically, what did you make of the team? And also, I know Sam's already mentioned the technical directive, but this is kind of proven that McLaren and their 197 point gap over Ferrari and second probably isn't going anywhere. what loss um yeah look

strategically you're right McLaren were very good today and I was with you Ben I thought they might have um box Norris with with the Stappen when that happened but they were you know you're right they stuck to their guns

which isn't always the best way in F1 you have to be flexible but in this case they like you say they had they knew the the pace they had in that car um it was going to win out over a three stop um respect to rebel for trying to three stokes. I think it was the only way they were going to give McLaren a headache this afternoon.

But yeah, you cannot fall, cannot fall McLaren. And they made, you know, they sealed it by being able to do that first stint long enough. I think they got him to lap with Piastri, at least they got him to lap 25 and they're asking him whether he could do it. He said it'd be difficult, but he got the job done and, you know, still pretty comfortably. That then set them up for the rest of the day because from there and in, they weren't having to push the middle and third stints like Ferrari were having to do, for example. So, yeah, they were, they were pretty comfortable and respect to them for, for, for just sticking to their guns.

And yeah, the technical directive, I said this, I said this before the weekend, probably didn't quite expect them to come out and be more dominant than they had been before. But, um, I think if people were expecting that was, that would that to be the only thing that was making them a McLaren quick. They were going to be disappointed. And I'm sorry if you disappointed, but that was kind of a nervous. It's a really naive approach to how Formula One cars work if you think just from flexing of the front and rear wing

is going to completely change this championship on its head. Well, is that, and that goes to Lewis Hamilton. Yeah. It goes to like people like, and I guess it's an act for Christian Horner, but, you know, if Red Bull were already expecting this was going to bring them back into the hump fully, then I would have been surprised that truly was their overall hope because it's done the complete opposite. So, yeah, it's just proved that that flexi wing,

whilst they wouldn't do it if it didn't make a difference. I don't think it was that pivotal. I think I read about the fact that it just really affects the balance the way you set up a car and you know, you have to in high-speed corner of your car has to be a little bit more unstable now, but it didn't really seem to affect them, did it? So it's a one mistake from Norris, I think,

in, was it practice maybe? We went off at turn nine, but apart from that, it's a pretty stable car than McLaren, so, yep. Okay, time for a quick. break on the other side, the safety car that changed everything. Back everyone. As mentioned earlier on in the episode from Mr. Harry Aide, it looked like, whilst it wasn't uneventful, it was looking like we were heading to a relatively standard end to this Grand Prix until Kimmy Antonelli decided or Mercedes decided it didn't want his

card to go any further in this Grand Prix, bringing out a safety car, which is a bit of a rarity at the Spanish GP. And of course, that brought the entire field back together. One of the significant things about this was that Max Verstappen did not have a new set of soft tires. He did not have a new set of medium tires. Instead, a brand new set of hard tire that no one else had bothered to use for the rest of this Grand Prix. Eventually, well, overtaken by Charles Leclair after nearly going into the pit wall, contact with George Russell, letting George Russell go by, sort of, getting a penalty and finishing 10th. There's quite a lot to summarize and get into in what was about two laps worth of action. Let's try, Sam.

Let's go with the contact between Vastappan and Russell, the second contact where it looked like Vastappen was going to let Russell go by, the one where he was given a 10 second penalty. Was that a fair penalty? No. For me, that... Yeah. Russell, she has got the penalty.

No. George, sit down. No, no. Seriously now. he put another capacity, he put himself at genuine risk. That was, I think, fully intentional. The red mist fully came over Max Verstappen there, and I think he did it to prove a point.

He did it because he was frustrated. We know that him and George Russell have had problems previously, and I think that took over from him. Now, what Max Verstappen did was not acceptable. You do not use your car as some kind of weapon, some kind of device to inflict damage or just, just on another racing driver and he drove into George Russell

with full intent. And I think a 10 second penalty is the least of what he should have got. For me, that was an immediate disqualification. That should have been a black flagging. He should have been out of that Grand Prix. You never intentionally use your car

to attack another Formula One driver in their car. It simply is not acceptable. It's not what we want here in Formula One. As brilliant as Max Verstappen is, I think that cannot go unpunished. It needs to be looked into again. I don't think 10 seconds.

seconds is at all enough. It was really, really bad behavior. It reeked of Sebastian Vessel driving into the side of Lewis Hamilton at Baku as an intentional hit. But this felt even more severe than that. So I think I love it. Don't want to see it. I think he should be removed from the Grand Prix. I mean, the key difference between this one and the Vettel incident, this was on the green flag conditions, of course, whereas the other one, not saying it was okay, but of course was under safety case. They weren't at full racing speed. No. Harry, how did you view this? Do you think there was intent here?

Yes. It's fully, fully intentional. And you're right, Sam. It's worse than the Vetter one from Baku in 2017. That should have been a black flag then, but it wasn't. This, for me, is a race ban. This is, you're using your car as a weapon. And it's rare we've seen this in the sport.

I seem to remember like Maldonado tried it in a practice session a few years ago. But apart from that. He probably didn't mean that. No. It was Maldonado. Yeah. But this, again, that wasn't, you know, I'm not saying that's right, but it's different. This is in a fully green fly condition, racing conditions.

And for what, I feel like this is like the dichotomy of Max Rastappen. He is. Okay, Thesaurus. He is brilliant. He is truly brilliant. the save alone, brilliant out of the final corner. And then he goes and does things like this. It's kind of Schumacher-esque.

I'm not saying Schumacher would. I know. He probably would. But not. Anyway, not getting to that. But this is my comparison. He's truly brilliant, but he's sometimes plagued by like a red mist that comes over him. And, you know, he's a fourth time world champion.

He could be one of the greatest ever. if not the greatest ever at some stage of the sport. And then he goes and pulls a stunt like this. For what? For why? There's literally no reason. And if he just let George go, he'd be closer to the McLaren's in the championship right now,

but instead he's finished 10th with one point. And I just don't understand that. But they're using your car as a weapon. I know weapons quite an extreme word. But it was. he's purposefully driven into George Russell. I mean, if there was a faster corner, this could have been a disastrous, disastrous crash.

It's just unacceptable. It's an unacceptable example for him as a multiple war champion to set to all other aspiring F1 drivers. And I don't think a 10 second penalty isn't anywhere near enough. We said this before we came on there. Alex Albon got a 10 second penalty. That's not the same thing in this race. where they get the same penalty for it.

I thought he needs, it needs, I'm not saying he needs, but it needs to be shown that you cannot do this. So I think a race ban is, does qualification at the minimum, but I think a race ban is what he should be given for that. Race ban, he should not be racing in Canada. That was disgusting.

There was intent in that, and you can't convince me otherwise. Unless it comes out after the race and I would be very, I really don't think this is going to happen, that there was something, wrong with that car, fine, but I just don't, I don't think that's the case. He slowed up to insinuate that he was letting George Russell by and then went into the side of him. That is a race ban, clear as day.

A 10 second penalty for that incident was disgusting. That is absolutely inappropriate for that level of incident. I would hope that they'll look at this again. I don't know if they will, because whenever a team, presumably Mercedes in this incident, wants to review something like this and bring it back to the steward's attention, the only way in which they will change their decision is if they get information that they did not have when viewing the incident the first time around. And I'm not sure what Mercedes can actually provide. The camera angles that the stewards had, I don't suspect Mercedes are going to have anything

that they didn't have telemetry data possibly. But again, why don't the stewards have that in the first place? So I honestly think they won't do anything about this, but they absolutely should. That was uncalled for, unacceptable. And in what is, I was going to say, a close championship fight, what Vastappen is trying to keep us a close championship fight, he can't afford incidents like this.

Whether it was the right call to let George Russell by or not, I can listen to that debate. And, you know, there's quite a lot of incidents that happened, particularly at turn one that will get our attention as to who was in the right and who was in the wrong. But that way of that response is not okay. I would absolutely ban him for the next race. Just for reference as well, remember that George Russell picked up a 20-second

essentially penalty. It was a drive-through penalty at Monaco only last week for cutting a corner to getting advantage. And in theory here, we're seeing that Max Verstappan is using his car to intentionally cause harm to another racing driver's car in such a non-competitive and dangerous manner that the attack from Max for Stappen attack is such a strong word but the intentions of Max for Stappan...

It is. Yeah, hang on. The intentions of Max for Stappen here were far more severe than what George Russell did at Monaco and his penalty is half the time that has been given is just simply not an acceptable way to marshal this kind of issue. Of course, that only happened after an incident going down the start finish straight between himself and Charles and then the incident with George Russell

going into turn one. Harry how did you see both of those parts play out? The first one with Leclair, I don't think it's in, I know they were saying in the comms box it was Vestappen driving into it, this is Sky, sorry. I think they were both, they were both

trying to get the slipstream. I don't think there was anything intentional in that. I actually think it was more LeClaire moving over on Vostappen, if I'm being completely honest, but I don't think it was anything like get out my way. They were both sort of merging into a gap and it was a bump. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't do anything with that, to be honest. It was just a racing incident in my view.

The one with Russell's turn one, I don't think, I know, obviously the whole reason for what we just talked about was the fact that they had, Vestappen had to give the place back. Russell is not under control as he heads into that first corner. He's not, he's using Vastappen as a break, quite frankly. He's slightly overcooked it going into T1. You know, it happens on safety car restart. So I'm not saying that was intentional at all from Russell. He saw an opportunity with obviously,

Vastappen having the mistake out of the final corner. But he overcooked it. It was too much. And he bumps Vastappen off the road, essentially. So I don't think, I know obviously GP and Red Bull told him to give back the place, but actually don't think you needed to, which could have avoided the whole thing, which will really please Max.

But yeah, so I think that was definitely on Russell, that one. Whether I'd give a penalty for that, I'm unsure. They did give similar penalties for that sort of move on other drivers during the race. So if they were consistent,

I guess they would have gone for the same, but obviously they're not. But yeah, I'd definitely view that as Russell's fault. But he claims. the corner. He had the apex. He was out of control.

Why are we letting this? As GP said over team radio, just the way the rules are now. Like, yeah, they suck. And there's irony in a lot of Vastappan's actions, of course, the rules to be the way that they are. But, I mean, I'm not making this driver specific. Just the rules themselves are so stupid.

Russell was not in control. And there's commentary discussing whether he has the right to the corner or not because he's there. No. No, stop it. I read the Lecler situation the same way as you, but the Russell one annoyed me. Yeah, I put it more on LeCler going down the straight,

but for me, it's a racing incident. It's two cars going in a straight line, you know, the pair of you've got enough space to work it out between you. You're grown men driving 200 miles an hour down a straight. Sorry, out, lads. But the breaking zone with Russell, I put it fully on, George Russell, even with the new guidelines, the new rules, I don't think he had claimed the corner to use.

That's going to be our phrase of the year when we get to the LBs. We'll do a new award show. Quote of the year, line of the year, claimed the corner is now number one for that. I don't think he did claim the corner. I think Max Verstappen was enough ahead. I don't think George Rossum did have control of the car. And Max Verstappen took to the runoff, used the road appropriately,

and came back out in front. Now, may second guess it? And I don't think they need to, because the penalty would have been the same, apparently, had he not given the place back to Russell was proven wrong, but it ended up causing this absolute chaos that we saw from the Stapper going into turn 5, which just wasn't acceptable. But for me, Russell was wrong. Russell did not claim the corner.

He used Max as a break. He was not in control of the car. And I actually think the Max was stabbing up until what he did later on handled the situation properly. He took to the runoff, went back in front where he belonged. and the race will have carried on. For me, it wreaked of desperation of being out of control from Russell. And that was it.

He tried a last chance attempt to work out for him. And it should have stopped at that. It should be that simple. Just to say as well, on the Verstappenbant, he's already on eight penalty points. Oh, good point. They are not going to be dropped, apparently, for another two races.

So we'll see how many he gets from these, these are some fractions. Definitely big two, won't it? None. None. 10 seconds, no points. Mine's four. We're actually going to refresh you.

You've served the 10 seconds, so good job. Just quickly, Harry, strategically from Vastappen's side, because he was pretty much the only threat to the McLaren duo throughout the day. They're going for a three-stop strategy. That includes one set of medium tire, three sets of soft tires, of course, leaving them with just that hard tire at the end, which no one else bothered to use because

it didn't look like it was going to be a competitive tire whatsoever. Did Red Bull, it's easy to say in hindsight, did Red Bull get it wrong with the potential of a late race VSC or safety car? I don't think they got wrong with the three-stop. I think that was they knew they didn't have the race pace over the McLaren's. And I think, as I's already said, I think this is the best way to try and give them a headache. And I think they did.

They'd certainly, maybe not a headache, like a mild, a little thudy, a little thud. It's just there, and it? see the other civil waters. Yeah, just a bit dehydrated from the day. But I think it was, it gave kind of like Schumacher, Ross Braun days kind of tact it. Like no one else was doing it, but he was like, we'll go for a three stop here. And I don't blame them for it because, you know, they didn't have the tie where, so why not stick another set on and have an extra pit stop and be able to go faster?

So I don't blame them for that. It obviously did lead them open to that sort of, that sort of state car. where I do blame them is leave him out. What are you gaining by pitting him onto a set of hard ties? Leave him, give him the track position. We've seen how well Max Fisdapen can defend. Given the track position and see what happens because you're not gaining anything by putting him on a hard tire

behind the two McLarence who are on soft ties. And then obviously LeCler behind was on soft ties as well, as was Russell, as was quite a few of the cars behind him. So yeah, I criticise him for that bit, which is a shame because it would have been really interesting to see how that would have happened, how that would have turned out towards the end of the race. He only had to do, what was it, five laps we had of racing,

or six laps. The ties he had on weren't that old. And look, maybe the McLaren's would have got past him, but I think he would have stood a better chance at maybe getting a win or even P2 than he did at the by putting new hards on. I mean, we saw how he dropped out of the final corner because he had no tire temperature whatsoever.

So, yeah, I, and obviously Vastappen was pretty annoyed on the radio before the restart because he was on the wrong tire in his view and I agree with him in that sense. Yeah, I get that. It was, I think it was a tricky decision and I can't blame Red Bull too much for the fact that there was a safety car

because they are really rare at the Spanish GP and they probably crunched the numbers and determined with about 18 laps to go when they made their third stop. Chances are there's not going to be another one In this instance, there was. They could probably run that race another 10 times, and there would be many more races that didn't have a safety card than did.

So I can't blame them too much for that. In terms of the call to go on to the hard tire, it's interesting because Esteban Ocon, and I know it's very difficult to compare a Red Bull to a Hasse, but Esteban O'Con basically did the strategy that you outlined there, Harry, which is just stay on the medium tire. O'Con put on his medium tires, I think, on lap 45,

Stappen was lap 48, so it's fairly comparable. Ocon sunk like a stone. Now, would Vastappan have done the same? Would Vastappen have fought harder to keep positions than Ockon did? Who knows? It's tricky to say. He would have asked the question of both McLaren drivers, and it could have worked out.

Equally, he might have lost both of them and lost a boatload more positions and finished seven for eight or something. So it's tricky to say, but it was definitely viable to stay out on the, on the mediums. I would be surprised if it wasn't in their consideration. Should we do 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. Have you got Sam? Yes, you've come to me first. Thank you, sir. Nice and easy after he absolutely pulled

Lewis Hamilton's planks down, it's Eka Holkenberg. The fact that he's starting in P-15, he's ending up P5. Strategy was great. His pace was so good. They played the safety car brilliantly. Everything just went his way.

It was such a brilliant performance from Nico. And we'll get on to bold prediction and review in a minute, but it turned out very well for one of us. So, pretty job Nico driver today. Have you got, Harry. Nico Oggabber is a great shout. I'll go for an obvious one. Oscar Piastri, as already mentioned,

another very controlled, well-managed win. with various points of pressure, but never really looked like he was going to falter. So, Piaestry. The only other name I'll throw in here is Hatcher again. Man's just doing it. Doesn't matter. Yeah.

And to be fair, like the safety car really didn't help him because he was locked into a seventh place finish, which is actually where he's finished anyway, but Holgerberg's got by him in that process. So I think the only reason I can't give it is because, he couldn't get Hamilton the same way that Holkberg did and he let Holkhamberg buy.

Such a weird line by the way. Oh yeah, I know, right. A guy couldn't get Hamilton the way that Holkhamberg did and then you break down what those cars were and who those people are. That is ridiculous. Yeah. But he was, I think he was about 10 seconds clear of Holkneberg before the

safety car, so he has been shafted a bit by that, but I will go with Goekkenberg. He was very good. No, that's got a thing. Hulk and goat. But Hulk and Goat Polken Goaks is something I can get on board with. He's terrible. Gokenberg's great.

No. Gokenberg. The man who said, Arvin Lindglud, I am not accepting any commentary on names. Hey, I saw it on T-shirts in the crowd at the weekend. You made the T-shirt! Also, he won the feature race in F-2.

Yeah, because he's pretty glared at what he does. Oh, my God. Worst drive of the day. Here we go. Ben, Ben, Ben, worst driver of the day. Ben, Ben, Ben, worst driver of the day. You suck at driving.

Quite a few contenders for driver of the day, Sam. I feel like there's quite a few contenders for worse driver of the day, too. Yeah, there were some pretty sucky performances up and down the grid there. Some that stood out for me. I can't. He was almost in it. I was getting a shout out for Andrew along the song, because it felt like his pace just kept getting worse and worse and worse.

They drove off the racetrack and they were stuck. outside of the points. It wasn't going to get points. But the safety car can't save his bacon just a little bit. Yuki Sengoda, he progressed about four cars, and most of them had some kind of serious problems. So he's right up there. I'm going to give it to Max Stauffin.

What you do is just what that move was just unacceptable. And so for me, that's got me right at the bottom. Also, Lewis Hamilton. Yeah, you really went from Hero to Zero real quick in that race. So real, real stinky from Hamilton today. Stink, stinky. Yeah. It rigged.

It's pooey. Ew. Not Lewis Hamilton, actually. I've gone for Alex Albon. I know that Williams wasn't good this weekend. But you're not going to help you race by knocking your wing off twice. He did it twice. I know the first one wasn't his fault, to be fair.

He was sort of on the outside. But you do run that risk in turn. one. But just, yeah, not, just trying not to get into scrapes is good. It's a good way to,

I'm just mad because he was in my fantasy team, quite frankly, but yeah, Vestappen is definitely a shout, but he, you know, for the first 60 laps, it was actually really good.

And I, but I do concede that what he did in the last five laps was terrible. Max and Liam, like bash bros at the moment, aren't they? Has Liam Lawson heard of the break? Like,

at all? No, no. No, no, he's heard of the break. he just considers other drivers to be that break. I've heard of it. His interpretation is, they are his break. That's what he believes it to be.

Just anywhere, little dive bomb. Don't matter, mate. Tell you what, power rankings on Patreon tomorrow. There are going to be some very high scores. There are going to be some very low scores as well, having a look down at where everyone finished. I think Alex Album might take it. It's either him or Franco Colopinto because Colopinto was so slow again.

That's his issue, though, isn't it? That's like, everywhere else. some kind of actual awful mistake. Where were you, Franco? What are you doing? Man's going to be out by Silversland. Man's going to be so gone by Silversland. Did we say there was no limit on races?

I thought I said five, I forget. I didn't say six. But I also didn't, didn't say six. So I'll go album, though, just because he had the error, but it's a close one between those two. Right, let's take our second break on this episode.

episode. On the other side, we're getting into a day where Ferrari are somehow second in the Constructors Championship. Who called it? Who called it? We did. I think we all did. Explain why. We all said it. That's why you listen to the show, folks. It's nonsense, but you pull it back. There's a lot of truth behind it. Sure. Welcome back, everyone. Looking into Ferrari and Mercedes and how they got on today, let's start with Ferrari, because they've managed to get to second place in the Constructors' Championship now, six points clear of Mercedes. This, Sam, came on a day

where Lewis Hamilton, to quote a good friend of mine, had a bit of a pooy performance. Whiffy? Yeah, yeah. But yet, they've still managed to climb a second. Yeah, again, and it's the most Ferrari way of doing it as well, because

so much of it wasn't down to them at all. And if you were to just look at Lewis Hamilton's performance, you must go, nah, there's a way that Ferrari have done this, because he had a stinker. It was really bad. Got off the line really poorly. Got a bit lucky that it was so bunched up in turn one,

but yeah, he put a good move on Russell, fair play, I respect it. I've got a lot of time for it, you know? Look at, what's that?

Oh, yeah, lots of time for that move. Love that. And then he just never went anywhere. It's like he decided to get out of the car and have a tea break after that point because he was so slow in comparison to everyone else around him. Then they came over the radio to be like,

I've got like no back end grit, no stability in the real. end. We've all been there as well, mate. Why is so stinky, me, obviously that's... Moving on. Good, because I'm about

saying something bad. But then on the flip side, Charlotte Clare, I think, delivered really good race pace. And we spoke about this being qualifying, but in practice,

they're longer runs. LeCleurs, especially, look really positive, really solid. And I think once he was released from behind Lewis Hamilton,

he was able to display that, and he kind of got on with his race, he kept his head down, and yes, they benefited from, Max Verstappen being taken back eight places due to a penalty. And they're also benefiting from the matter that Kimi Antigone's engine is exploding.

And Mercedes powered engines, by the way, just going pop at many a Grand Prix at the moment, which is slightly concerning. But this is what Ferrari are doing. They've got two solid drivers. They've got a car that is good, but also terrible. And it's just consistency, consistently mediocre, whereas everywhere else around them is either hitting the peaks and doing really, really well, but they're having the biggest troughs of their season,

then going through two or three races where they don't seem to score any points at all. So that's how Ferrari are in second, because no one else seems to want to be there. It seemingly is the only way they've done it. Yeah, they'll take it. I feel like from Ferrari and Mercedes perspective, the number one drivers of their respective teams let themselves be known today. Like it was abundantly clear at both Ferrari, who the better driver is right now,

ladies who the better driver is right now. There was a considerable gap for both teams when looking at their drivers versus their teammates. Congratulations to Ferrari for again not making a call quick enough. Just get it done. It's so obvious that he's quicker. Dirty air is such a factor around here, plus the high temperatures. If you've got a car within a second of you, that car is a lot quicker.

It's not a little bit quicker. If they are able to stay in that gap, it must be. be because they have a considerable advantage. Just get it done. It came like three laps too late. We was literally pushing him around the track at one point. That's how close he was. At that point, I think it was still ambitious,

but it wasn't completely out the question that LeCler could challenge the top three, or at least one member of the top three, doing something slightly doing. I'm not sure what it might have been, but he wasted a number of seconds behind Hamilton. But yeah, I thought I thought LeCleur was very good, Hamilton less so,

from Mercedes perspective, apart from reliability, again, being called into question, George Russell, I think his pace was pretty good. And in a weird way, even though it's not their best race, the fact that they,

temperatures were really high this weekend, and they weren't uncompetitive, feels okay. Like, you're probably not going to get many hotter races than that this season. So NB, as the kids might say. No, that's got bring back NB. and I would say bang

he does not get to come back on the sure how did you read Ferrari and Mercedes Harry yeah firstly exactly the same one the why did it take so long to get Lecler past Hamilton

like that's just a waste of time the irony later on I know it was about the safety gap but Hamilton is saying these guys love to waste laps I'm like yeah you are the guys for goodness sake

but yeah it was clear early doors that the Lecler was was the quicker of the two. I say it's a shame. He obviously didn't get to do a second lap in, in qualifying because he didn't have a fresh set of size to use. Why Ferrari didn't save that run until the end of the session, don't know, but had he qualified a bit further up, who knows what could have happened? And I'm with you, Ben, I think he could have, if they'd let him go a bit earlier

with, after being stuck behind Hamilton, I think he could have been challenging for Stappen. And obviously, he got him in the end anyway with the safety. but I think he could have been challenging early doors. But yeah, it was, I think the Ferrari pace was pretty good, at least in the hands of the hands of Leclair. And I'm the same with Russell and Antonelli. I think, you know, that's experience versus a rookie there in terms of dealing with tie attempts and things like that.

Antonelli's burning all the time. But Russell, I think, got the most out of that car today. I don't think it was particularly brilliant around here. I know it's a net loss in terms of. where he is it not lost where he's

when did he finish fourth P4 it's a net it's a net nothing from where he started

race story starting fourth finished fourth might as well just not done it but yeah so I think

he can be relatively pleased with how how they've walked away from that one obviously they haven't walked away

was P2 in the championship because Antonelli's car went boom in terms in terms of

the midfield drivers we had I know we've already discussed Holkberg a bit we had

Hadjar finishing 7th, Gazley, 8th, Alonzo 9th. Sab, Dealer's choice of those three, which one do you want to take? But how did you see their race go? I think it also shows you just how significant qualifying can be this season. The fact that they're starting in that order and they ending up finishing in that order. But yet, their stories of their races were also very different. It felt like Gasly was ping-ponging from the front end of the Grand Prix to the back end of the Grand Prix every time he had a pit stop and then would seem to work his way back through again.

And I thought his overall consistency in pace was really, really strong. He was elevating that Alpine far more than I expected him to. He did a good job at qualifying it in eight. It shouldn't have been there in the first place. And I really thought he was going to not sink like a stone, but I was expecting him to very much end up falling backwards to outside the points, which he did not. He was really, really brilliant today.

It's classic gasoline. You give him a car that can actually perform. He will show you what he's able to do. And he does such a solid driver these days. They had to impress me once again. It was seven big booms for seventh place for the Rizzler. and I just think the guy can do it all. He's the best rookie so far this season.

He's so impressive. And the way he's managed you again, I think outperform that racing balls car. It's just so, so good. I don't know how he does it, but he's doing it every single race. So he's kind of put a Leon Norses to shame a little bit, which is odd because their race pace, if you let them just do laps, is very similar.

But because he's able to qualify better and is able to mitigate risk better, by mitigate risk, I mean, just not drive. into people in turn one. He gets the points. He ends up in the right places at the right time. So, brilliant job for both of those guys.

Alonso had a very topsy-turvy race. I'll let one of you guys take it. Harry, go ahead. Yeah, Alonzo's race was like, it felt like he was, I mean, obviously he drove off the road by himself, which was, you know, an unusual mistake for Alonzo. It did, and I think he did come on the radio after that

to say, like, what are we doing? I feel like his strategy was a little bit in no man's land. But he obviously made that mistake. He lost a position to from that. And I think that's where he landed him back out. By the time all the pit stops had played out and before the safety car, I think he was about 13th, I think. But on the freshest of tyres.

So there's a possibility he would have picked up those points anyway, but more difficult. And obviously they did play this strategy well when the safety car came out. So of the last three races, is probably the least deserving one for him to get points, but he's got points out of it. So whatever will take it. Fernando Lozman of fans,

he's got two points on the Lord. He's not a point of season. And the rest of the, I agree. Hadjar once again, he's doing what, like, Niko Holcombberg was doing in the house, like last year where he just keeps,

that's why I'm saying he keeps doing it, and he just keeps doing it. He keeps turning up and delivering. But whereas Holkenberg, last year was a veteran of the sport, Hadjars in year one, and it's very impressive. he impressed against Sonoda,

he impressed against Lawson. For the love of God, Red Bull, please do not put him in that second seat. Just leave him alone. Leave him in that car. Well, you know, there might be a space opening up for the next Grand Prix,

so, you know. Someone's got a good. Yuki Sago was looking around like, please, no. Well, Max Mastappen's getting carted out. Let's just do a double switch well, ready, lads. Yeah, let's get it done.

Yeah. Lawson gets back in the seat again. Surprise. is really hard. What am I doing? Yeah, but with Gatsley as well, I think he was also unlucky to not get a better result, but you're right, Sam, I think he was elevating that Alpine far above where it should have been.

And his qualifying alone was super impressive. So sausage is out for Gassley, as always. Big up. I think Gassley's done a good job. I think of all the drivers in terms of the safety car and who it benefited, who it didn't, it probably benefited Gassley more than nearly everyone because he was holding on by the end of that stint. Their strategy was essentially undercut and then defense.

So he came in for new soft tires on lap 11. His second stop was made on lap 32. So he was, apart from maybe Sonoda, he might have been the, of the Stappen, I guess, who was also on a three stop. He might have been the first of the two stoppers to come in. So I'm not sure how many spots he might have lost late on. in the Grand Prix, but he made the most out of it.

That Alpine, I don't think, was that quick. So the fact that he's come away with points, I think is very impressive. Alonzo, I think it was okay. The error really cost him because Lawson, I know he's beating Lawson in the end, but get on to that. But he essentially was just trying to undercut Lawson twice and fail both times. And if he doesn't make that error, he doesn't even need to do that. So not his best race.

I think it was okay, though, the pace and Hadger. Yeah, 10 big booms. He's pretty good, I'm. Just one other incident. I wanted to quickly discuss Sam, and that was Liam Lawson and Alex Albon. Alex Albin picking up a 10-second time penalty that obviously they served during the race,

despite retiring the car to avoid anything happening in Canada. How did you see that? I think Alex Albon was at fault for that incident. I think Liam Lawson was comfortably ahead, and by both occasions, both when he went down the inside, and then both when he then went around the outside, and that's where the contact actually happened. Especially because around the outside,

he didn't squeeze Albuhr at all, right? He was running right up along the parameter of the racetrack, what was considered the racing line. Albuhr, I think, should have realized that it wasn't going his way, he should have yielded. So for me, I think 10 seconds is too extreme for that kind of incident. For me, that was a five-second penalty. And I think that Liam Norson probably should have been giving a five-second penalty

for his outrageous, eye bomb or Ali Behrman at one point that happened later on in the race as well or he tried to go down the inside. So lots of disagreements on who the penalties were for and what they were, but in this case, Lawson penalty against Behrman, Albon penalty against Lawson. That's how I saw it. How did you see it, Harry? What Sam said. Short and sweet, but yeah, I agree. I think it's why I already mentioned in my worst drive of the day. I think a scrappy race from Album in that one. but yeah

Lawson also needs to just learn not to stick his nose up the inside of random cars he did it at the start as well didn't he Lawson with Alonzo he was lucky to get away with that goodness me he's like an exciting dog in a dog park

in it we're sticking his nose where it don't belong keep it out man you know Hadja and he I can't remember who the other driver is he had a very similar incident late in this Grand Prix

and he backed out at the right time and I was like if that's Lawson I don't think he is that's one of the differences between them are judged not to stick his nose in too far and Lawson did it a couple of times today. Yeah, exactly. So I think he just needs to calm me down a bit, Liam.

Calm me down. Calm down. I agree with you both on the second one. I thought that was on Albin when he damaged his front wing. The first one I actually don't think was, I think they were side by side and the way the rules are that Albin wasn't able to stay on the track. So he had to take to the runoff. I think that's Lawson's fault because he'd put.

put him out there. I think they were both entitled to it based on how I want to go racing. Based on how the rules are though, yeah, that's on album. Shall we, shall we do big brain strat? What? What? It's not even raining now. What are you talking? Shocker, Sam, what you got? Well, it's not been mentioned yet on the podcast,

but I'm going to go for the brilliance of Ferrari who took so long to execute the team switch, being that Lecler broke up a lot of his tires and lost a hell of a long of time behind Lewis Hamilton. He just, hey, if you didn't know, if you're that close to your teammate with that much surrethier, around a train light, a train light, that's a bad mix off and forth. All aboard the Spanish train. Essentially, LeCleur was much faster.

They should go get that much quicker. Once again, good job, Ferrari. I'm going to go over a Ferrari one as well, but a little bit more of an understated one. A lot was made of Charles LeCle's strategy and Ferrari strategy to bring an extra set of medium tires through to this Grand Prix, which LeClaire did use on the final stint. So he went soft, medium, medium, where a lot of others went soft, medium soft. It just didn't matter. The medium was no better.

In fact, it might have been worse. And I respect what Ferrari were doing, thinking the medium tire might have been the better race tire. I don't actually think it was. So all of that work, it hasn't cost them at all. But all of that work and LeCleur's sacrificing, qualifying a little bit to get that extra set of medium tires. and then he was going round on that last thing.

I'm like, it's just the same. It's not my story. Win. Big up Ferrari. Harry, what have you got? There's a trio of Ferrari. I'm going for, Lewis Hamilton gets brought in for his first stop. And to be honest, it's not really the strategy,

but it's more just the ongoing saga of Lewis Hamilton and his race engineer where they hate each other. He asked him, why has he been brought in so early? his race engineer says to, you know, cover an undercut. And a lap later, Hamilton asks him, but why have you brought me in so early? And he's like, to cover the undercut. I just told you this.

And then has not changed, Lewis. You're wanting me to answer the questions. I'm answering the question. I've literally told you this time. I love it later on, then they don't cover the undercut. And George Ross have just played six seconds on them. Such a bad call. They covered it with the glare.

Oh, good. let's review our bold predictions because we've already spoiled that there might not actually be three incorrect bold predictions on today's episode. Sam, let's start with your one. You said that Fernando Alonzo would finish inside the top. Six. Six. Yeah.

After qualifying, you were probably thinking... I was. I was. And I think if he had... If he didn't go off and had a normal Grand Prix, come that late safety car, I do think there's a chance that he could have been where Hulk could be. was. But that's a lot of ifs, but maybe. It didn't happen.

I was wrong. But at least he's got points on the board. Harry, your bold prediction was about the other Spaniard on the F1 grid at the moment. Carlos Sines, you said he would do what? Was he top six as well? I think top five, I think he said. Oh, Lord. Anyway.

I'm pretty confident. I didn't. Whatever I said, he involved points and he didn't get any. So I think it was the top 17, actually. I said he would finish. Ben, what's yours, mate? What was yours? My bold prediction was that Salbo would not be last coming out of this Grand Prix weekend.

And I've already mentioned this to Sam pre-recording, but Holkenberg, for a lot of this race, was in ninth place. And boy, I'd be nervous because I was just waiting for something to go horribly wrong. And it did, in fact, it got better. Holkenberg ends up finishing fifth. So not only if you look at the standings and you look at 10th, do you not see Salba. You can look at 9th place and it's not Salba either.

They're 8th. Yeah. Asken Martin and Alpine crying at the back of the grid now. It's a tough man. How was Holkenberg got 16 points? Incredible. Incredible. Teammate Wars, though.

We'll take it. Well done, Ben. Yeah, that's not worked that well for me at all. You joined us on the abacus. Roll the dust off. Get it moving, son. Yeah, me and Sam are absolutely racing clear

with one point each. Harry defending champion yet to get off the mark. Ooh. Okay. Play your time, mate. Play your time. Yeah.

Let's take our final break on this episode. On the other side, it's Moment of the Race. Welcome back to the final part of today's review of the Spanish GP and it's time for Moment of the Race. We have some discourse submissions

coming up very shortly. Before that, though, Harry, what was your moment of the race? I had a couple. One to shout out, which was very Sky-specific, so I've not gone for it for my actual moment, but was Big Rob Marshall on the grid talking to Christian Horner, and then Sky were like, what you're talking about?

He was like, oh, just high-level stuff, to side-level stuff. Like, yeah, you were mocking him, weren't you? Yeah, Christian. Got you. You said I couldn't fry elsewhere, didn't you? Yeah, a little punk. But that isn't my moment. moment of the race. My moment of the race is

lap 50, whatever, Kimmy Antonelli's engine expires and the camera cuts to Jude Bellingham, English football player sat in the Mercedes garage and he's got the biggest smile on his face and someone's next to him is just like, oh, that's on you mate, that's not good. And he's like,

oh, shakes his head. Like, come on, man. Cole Palmer's definitely just texting that jam sandwiches or something and it's like, oh, bad time to laugh. It was just a guy leading in Like, that's not a good thing. He's that, oh, no, sorry about that.

No, no, no. Excellent word, Jubileum. Congrats. Sam, what was your moment of the race? Max Verstappen gets a double from me. I found it tough to pick through either between, where he was going through lap traffic and finally gets past Olly Bearman,

does the most dramatic car wave of two hangs out of the cockpit. It was very Fingando alongside, so it felt like. But the one that is going to take it for me is we're going through his safety car comes out, it stops happening. Max Ostaffman drives onto the racetrack. And almost you could hear the cutscene where the world stops and he suddenly notices,

what's this white wall on my, on my tire, on my car? And he seems almost exacerbating and confused about, what is this? What is this? What is the hard tire? He's so confused about the hard tire that I,

you know, it really, it really gave me a little giggled. And then he just got nothing else, mate. Nothing else to get it. Yeah, it was GP's response when he's like, what, this tie and he's like, it's the hard

time max. Like, you've you've raced in F1 for a long time now, son. What are you talking about? We've seen it before. No, what is it? Yeah, that made me giggle. My moment of the race, GP's response.

It's so dry. And it's, yeah, that's the hard time, Max. Would you like any more info? I thought it was great. What have we got from our Discord then, Harry? We have got plenty of submissions. So thank you, everybody.

First up is Beef. Hello. Life update. I've got a boyfriend. Moment of the race was Matt. Specifically, why am I on these tyres? He was just very confused,

which I relate to a lot. Okay, bye. Boyfriend Beef. Boyfriend Beef. Yeah, thanks. Congrats to Mr. Beef. We have. have Bullet Bill next.

Mr. Bullet Bill here with my moment of the race from the Spanish Grand Prix. Max Verstappen gets this week's Bullet Bill Award for taking out Russell, or at least trying to. Way to go, Maxie. And last will save me the rest of the awards that I've been giving out my bullet bill.

Who knows how many there are. Honeyboy is next. Realizing that we're going to give this up for a street race. in Madrid was my moment of the race because holy, what a banger of a race. Cheers, man. Yes, a spicy Madrid will hopefully come next year.

Many respects, hopefully it won't. You're banned from saying that ever again. Yep. Buckle in, everyone. Nando's Big Green Tractor is next. Hey, y'all, Nando's big green tractor. And as you can imagine, my moment of the race is not one. but two points for Fernandez is finally broken.

My pleading with my Nando poster on the wall before the race this morning actually worked. He has points. The Alonzo fans, I've seen this on Twitter, Alonzo fans getting celebrating two points and that I'm part of it. Is that meme with the person on the podium, but he's at the bottom step of the podium to like, come on. I remind you, this guy has two world championships. Yeah, Formula one, tweet.

So it's a graphic first points of the season. Oh, savage. How pathetic. Anyway, thanks, you're happy. Yeah, well done. Sammy is next. Who knows. Hello, late breakers.

Longtime listener, first time submitter coming to you live from the Barcelona GP. My moment of the race was Charles Leclair's naughty little overtake after the safety car. Thanks, love the pod. We love a first time. Thanks, Sammy. Also, always from the track.

is a winner. It's a great first time, isn't it? From the track. Yeah, thank you for that, Sammy. Next up is Cronenberg. Yo, what up? My fellow late breakers,

my moment of the race has got to be that fantastic strategy call made yesterday by Ferrari saved that set of tires for a way flare because look how that worked out.

A lot of action out there, so excited to see everyone else's moments of the race. Keep breaking late. Sorry, sorry, Croningberg. I spoke home you there. She'll really made that sound like that was an intention

thing. I really don't know how much it was. They just realized after, oh, we got a new, two new ones. Excellent. That went well. Gluteus Funk is next. Moment of the race. How about Nico Hulkenberg in the magic toaster overtaking Lewis Hamilton in lap 65?

Wow. Thank you, Cloutious Funk. No, no, no, no. That sounds like it should be. a ban name, Cloutious Funk. That's a good name for a band, actually. Handsome Shrek is next.

Clay Breakers, handsome Shrek here. My moment of the race is Max absolutely sending it into George. Come on, Max. Be good. Mongo!

Go, Mongo. Go on, Ben. I thought I had it on it. Oh, I do. It's the lowest quality of sound. So low on the levels as well. Anyway, finally, Kirsty, you really challenging me here.

M. Tizown, Tizone? Yo, it's M-Tisown. First time, long time. Moment of the race has to be Maxie and Red there at the end. Going full death com five on George Russell. Forget the championship battle. That battle between him and George Russell is heating back up. That's what I want to see.

Shoutouts. shout outs shoutouts shoutouts don't know who too though so who thank you everyone that is

that is everyone yeah massively appreciate your submissions next opportunity to get those in will be the Canadian Grand Prix

in a couple of weeks time when we look for under pressure submissions in our preview episode midweek but Sam

we've got other episodes in between now and then and of course power rankings tomorrow indeed

Power Rankers is a Patreon exclusive. So you're thinking, I don't ever see that on my feed when you've got to get down there into the little link to join the best community in town. The only town, Patreon City, move on in. Come and join us. It's great fun. Thanks for one that does support.

It makes this show so much bigger because we can invest in great things and do wonderful things and there's a lot that comes from your support. So thank you. Join us in Discord. The links also down in the description. Follow us on social media, late breaking F1

and watch me cry over a McLaren 12 on YouTube with my leaky eye, 10K before Silver, so we can do it. We're going to be there. Thanks for Liskim. We'll see you in a week week. In the meantime, I'll be Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking and I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.