The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP Race Review

Episode Date: June 14, 2026

History was made today in Spain as Hamilton cruised to his long-awaited first victory in red! Ben and Sam break down his magnificent drive and Ferrari's (sorry, what?) strategy masterclass, along with all the other action from up and down the field... Get involved in F1 Fantasy this season! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the Late Braking league⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us... LEAGUE CODE: C6Y6R4ZUY02 Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get:Ad-free listeningFull-length bonus episodesPower Rankings after every raceHistorical race reviews& more exclusive extras!Don't forget! You can also gift a Late Braking Patreon subscription—perfect for loved ones or your own wish list. Choose anything 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 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats!Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us!Get in touch any time at [e-mail]  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you for listening to the late-breaking F-1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. The very well, welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing the Barcelona-Catolonia Grand Prix. One, I've got written down here by Ferrari. By Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari. We're so back. We're so back.

I thought you might appreciate that. on. Usually very unbiased, but right now, very happy. Very, very happy. Yes! Sorry, we can carry on now. No, it's all right. For the next hour, Sam is going to sing the national anthem of the United Kingdom. Of Lewis Hamilton. But it is going to be God save Lewis rather than... Of course. Yeah, okay, great. There's actually more to get into other than just Lewis Hamilton's win, but I think it makes sense that we start right there. You have to go all the way back to the Mexican-Gun. Grand Prix of the 2024 season

for the last time Ferrari won a race. You have to go back to the Belgian Grand Prix of that same year, 2024 for the last time that

Lewis Hamilton won a Grand Prix. And after what was a very difficult year together in 2025, Lewis Hamilton's first at the team.

Finally, they've managed to break through that glass ceiling. Lewis Hamilton wins a Grand Prix and ultimately wins it very

comfortably taking advantage of a VSC to do his last stop and then just going off into the distance with Russell, Antonelli, Norris, not really being able to do anything about it. Pretty special achievement for both driver and teams. How impressed were you by what they were able to do together? I thought it was phenomenal. And I didn't really see it coming. I don't know if you thought

differently at the start of this Grand Prix, but even with Hamilton starting on the front row, when it was announced that he was starting on the soft, so I arguably said, why Ferrari? Why have you done that. And with the ties, the way they were disintegrating in qualifying, I was surprised that they could go as far as they could. And yet, it seems like the stars have really aligned for Hamilton to take this victory. There was kind of a stat release thing. It was kind of one by pole, one by P2, one by pole, one by P2, one by pole, and Lewis Hamilton was starting P2. And then if you look at the British GP in 2024, the last time that Fernando Alonkso was outqualified by Larkstrol was the British team 24. I don't know.

George Russell was on pole position that race. Lewis Hamilton started P2 in that race. And the wing comes from Lewis Hamilton. Spooky, weird. Who the hell cares? He got the wing. But it was not as plain sailing as I think it appeared. The start didn't go the way they expected.

George Russell with an immense start to hold on to the league going down and to turn one. Not even challenged by the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton. And it looked like the initial pace was there from the Mercedes. Able to pull away comfortably having a good three or four second gap that, was maybe just impenetrable from the undercut, which Lewis tested, as we saw, he tried to go on to the three stop early on. The tire wear, of course, being held on by Lewis really well. And even though some would say he was saved by the VSC coming up, brought out by old

nemesis, Fernando Alonso, in the middle of the Grand Prix, I don't think it was all set and done. I don't think it was all over at that point. Yes, there's a real chance that he might be able to catch up a pass the Mercedes if it was green flag running the whole way through. And Ben, you brought this up before we started the show. that probably would have been a more classic, more amazing style Grand Prix. But I do think that just having the ability to pull away from those teamers saying is

with how dominant they've been so far this season is just as an impressive achievement as it would have been briefly overtook them on the track anyway. Excellent stuff. And I mean that from both the team and the driver's perspective. As reference, this has been a tough journey for Lewis Hamilton in terms of his Ferrari career. You know, the team weren't operating on the level that they would have wanted to last year. But Hamilton, as an individual, was definitely not operating on that level either. And LeCleur was very comfortably the better of the two. And I don't want today to be sweeping remarks about

what I expect for the rest of the year. I just want to focus on what happened today. And on the day, Lewis Hamilton delivered a classic performance. I've got no idea whether this will lead to more of these in the future from him. I've got no idea when people say, Hamilton's back. whether that's actually true or not. Right now, I don't care. And actually, I don't think he does either, because he will just be valuing what an excellent afternoon it has been from him. And you're right in saying that the VSC played into this. It helped him, no doubt about that. But I don't think it saved him. I think there was every chance Hamilton was winning this Grand Prix anyway. And the way in which he was able to keep touch with the Mercedes drivers early on, obviously

he was ahead of Antonelli, but keeping touch with George Russell is something that we haven't seen from Ferrari up until this point in the season. Them fighting out front, them taking leads. We have seen that before, but we've also seen them very quickly lose those leads at the likes of the Miami GP, the Chinese GP. And it felt different today because even throughout those first five or ten laps when Russell relatively comfortably held the lead, crucially for Hamilton, he wasn't letting him get away. And that's where you felt that strategically they could do something that could give him an

advantage. And as soon as the VSC came out, as soon as he had that tire sort of delta on his opponents, I think it was relatively done and dusted at that point, even if a minor worry about a potential safety car or a yellow flag infringement might have caused a few Hamilton fans their hearts to flutter a bit. But other than that, it was plain sailing towards the end. So I just want to congratulate Hamilton on what was a brilliant race. It's a brilliant weekend. And the way in which he recovered it from earlier on in this weekend. Remember, he didn't take part in first practice.

He took part in the second part of practice, which didn't go very well. He looked down on the Mercedes. He looked down on his teammate and everything recovered for him. And I say that as if he didn't do it himself. He recovered the weekend on Saturday. today. And it worked in terms of one lap pace. It worked in terms of race pace as well. Really impressed. Yeah, really, really impressed. There's a big of an unsung hero that I want to shout out here, which I think was a key part of why Lewis Hamilton was so successful today.

And that's Carlos Santee, his race engineer, who is kind of interim race engineer for him. Previously the race engineer of Kimmy Riking and, of course, at Ferrari. The level of enthusiasm and passion and positivity that Santee displays over the radio, that's what Bono did for Hamilton at the Mercedes and that's what he needs. Hamilton thrives of energy. And you can hear with the tell me what time I need. How am I doing? What am I doing? You're doing great. This is fantastic. You're hitting the right time. You're in the right place. Good laps. Keep it up. We're doing this. The communication is clear. It's positive. It's concise. And even when they do come over the radio to say to him, just change your brake adjustment. I don't want to hear it. Move on. They shut up. They move on.

And I just think that that is something that Ferrari has been lacking for so long. It's clear. clear and concise conversation over the team radio. I just want to shout out, Santy. I thought he was fantastic today. And he delivered what I think Hamilton has really been lacking. I agree with that because whilst it might seem from the outside that all of these drivers need the same thing from a race engineer, that is not true. What works for Hamilton probably wouldn't work for others.

As an example, I think Antonelli, I think Antonelli needs a race engineer that brings him down almost. A firm hand, almost. Yeah, to rein him in a little bit when. something like the track limits started to pile up. And I think that works well for him. You're right in saying Hamilton needs the opposite. Hamilton needs that enthusiasm, that encouragement over the team radio. Because Hamilton, I think at times can be a little bit pessimistic until he starts to see something form in front of him. There's still doubts about,

am I catching them? Am I getting closer? Having that sort of, it doesn't even need the words to be encouraging. It just needs to be the way in which it's said. Hamilton will pick up on that and I think that definitely helped him out today. And I actually want to not just compliment Santi, I want to compliment the entire Ferrari team, which I appreciate about 10,000 people have just fallen down at the words that I've just uttered.

The customer compliment for Ferrari. Normally it's the complete opposite. They nailed it today. They absolutely nailed it. Strategically, I've been wanting this from Ferrari for years. Be aggressive, be proactive, be pro, active. Take the race to your rivals. So often they are caught napping or they are just on the wrong strategy to begin with. Today, Hamilton and Ferrari orchestrated a great strategy. They tried that

undercut 11 laps in. They went with the soft tire early on. I love to see it. That's not something we often see from the top four or five drivers where they'll just be on the same compounds. This is Ferrari going, we have a chance to win this Grand Prix today. We are not going to let strategy spoil that. And even, again, yes, the VSC helped things out. I still think he might well have won anyway because they were the ones asking Mercedes to respond to them. Brilliant strategy. Absolutely brilliant. You're so right to cool that out. And well done to the Pit crew itself, we're delivering consistently quick pit stops as well. No mistakes from the Ferrari side. Even with the adaptation of the VSC being throwing out there. They're so quick to respond. Obviously, Hamilton comes around the pit lane and he's too late

as a VSC comes out. He can't come in. But they're ready and waiting the next time he gets round there. And they're so on the money with the timing that you see him come out about pit lane. And Russell is what, a second and a half away from overtaking Lewis Hamilton on the exit. That's because of the brilliant execution of the pit lane crew. We haven't seen that very often in the last few years. A whole unit, a whole team working together, incredible result, very well deserved. A lot was made going into this weekend that Ferrari were bringing significant upgrades. We know they brought some to Miami a few weeks ago now. Didn't really bring anything to Monaco.

Big upgrade package here. Early signs, pretty encouraging. They are encouraging, but oddly so, because they brought eight upgrades to Catalonia here. So it's a big upgrade package. And there was a lot of remarks made about the F1 broadcast team, speaking about how they're out developing Mercedes right now. But I think if you ask that question after practice, you would quickly argue that they're not out developing the cars.

And actually, they were struggling with the way that the effects were happy. Charlotte-Clair looked faster of the two, but still not faster than rivals. McLaren showed better pace. Mercedes was still comfortably faster. And it was only actually when it came to race day. And even the first half of the race day, you can argue that Mercedes and Ferrari were very much on par. And this could have gone the way of George Russell.

or Antingelli had, you know, one event gone the other way. So it feels good. This felt much closer. I'm going to be a little bit reserved in my judgment before I start to declare that Ferrari are actually back. They're actually catching. This could have been a huge mitigating amount of factors, the weather, the type of track. We've seen tarmac play a key partying it.

Maybe the way the tyres degraded might have favoured Ferrari. There's a lot of results here that could go a certain way. I'm just going to wait until we've had the likes of Austria, maybe. Silverstone before I commit to them being properly there. Yes. And I'm fairly confident in saying this is a jump, whether it will be enough to keep winning races or whether it's enough to get them into a comfortable second, I don't know. But it does feel like with the type of track that Spain is, with it being quite well balanced,

I'm relatively confident in saying at least some of this will hold elsewhere too. I'm not overly surprised that in the race they happen to be quicker than McLaren. because whilst on one lap pace throughout practice, McLaren seemed to have the advantage. In race pace, Charlotte Clare was the closest competitor to the Mercedes drivers and was actually, I think, maybe marginally quicker than George Russell

in the long run that they did in FP2. That, of course, was on Charlotte Clare's car, which is not how it went down today, but obviously they're both running the upgrades. So I think Ferrari can be cautiously optimistic. I think you're right to say we've got some other tests coming up, particularly Silverstone Spielberg. And then I think at that point, we will start to understand

what they can realistically achieve throughout the rest of this year. But Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have got a win. It's a starting point. Yeah, they can go away happy. Let's see if the same thing happens in Austria. Yes. What about the Mercedes duo? So Kimmy Antonelli and George Russell,

ultimately George Russell winning the day with him finishing second and Antonelli going out late with a reliability issue, but not before Antonelli had overtaken George Russell on track. George Russell, of course, having held pole position and the lead throughout the first half of this Grand Prix. What did you make of their performance, first and foremost? Yeah, it was an interesting one. George looked like he had the early pace in the bag. And in the first 10 laps, it felt like stretching away well. The gap between Anthony and Lee and Hamilton was bigger than I expecting it to be.

I think it got upwards of six seconds at one point between the second and third place drivers at the time. And I was surprised to see actually that Kimmy was unable to hang with Russell and Hamilton early on. And yet every time we got to the midpoint of a stint, Russell started to come backwards. And Hamilton and Ansonelli started to step forwards. And it felt like these two either hang a better gauge on their tyreware

and they were able to pace the tyres better throughout the sinks themselves or Russell was struggling with sliding more. And that actually meant that Hamilton and Kimi Anconelli were more comfortable in the latter stages of the tireware. And eventually that culminates, of course, in Ancinelli making, I think quite a phenomenal overtake on his teammate and title rival. They got very close at one point. At some point, Kimi Ante Alley picks up front wing damage. I'm not actually sure when this happened. No, I was wondering whether it was related to Antonelli and Russell going side by side down the –

But obviously, Antonelli was forced quite far off the racing line there. I don't know if that's where he picked it up. Yeah, it's possible. I need to see some replays as to where that was picked up. But I was actually, I ended up being disappointed in Russell. I thought the weekend started brilliantly for him, and it fell into his lap, a little with how well he took pole. And there was a car between him and his closest rival in the championship.

I'm ignoring Hamilton here because I actually thought at the point that Ferrari weren't a legitimate second. It was more of a kind of a reliability-based second, but who knows, maybe that changes now. And you think, all right, Russell's done well. is kickstarting the weekend really well here. Practice looks good, qualifying pole position. He gets away into turn one really well. Kimmy got close. And yet, come lap 50 or so,

Antigali's making a move on Russell and has been glued to the back of him for a long time. So I was really quite surprised that Russell was unable to kick on and extend rather than Antigali reeling him in. What did you think? Who do you want me to start with, Antonelli or Russell? Antigelli.

Okay. I think his pace was pretty good. And overtaking your teammate on track is no mean feat because obviously you have the same machinery underneath you and to be that close to your teammate with relatively small tire offsets. I know Antonelli went a little bit longer, I think, on both of the pit stops. But equally, it's not like Antonelli had a 10-lap advantage over Russell

or anything ridiculous like that. So for Antonelli to get that overtake done on track, very impressed. I think given he was stuck behind George Ruff. for at least some of this race. If Antonelli had put his lap together in qualifying, I think there's a chance he could have won this Grand Prix. But ultimately, it was Russell that put it together on Saturday.

And I think Antonelli was, even if he'd got on the front row, maybe that's where Antonelli can go on to win this race. But even though the result is bad in terms of the DNF, I think we were aware this was going to happen at some point for him. It was almost too weird that the McLaren's and the Williams and George Russell had had all of these reliability issues and Antonelli had managed to avoid them all. It was always going to hit him at some point.

But I don't think he'll be overly phased by it. So that's the positive side of things. George Russell. It's a race review. Raw reactions, you know. Dig into it, man. Come on. And I encourage you all to clip this next 30 seconds or so for when I'm wrong.

George Russell is not winning this championship. He's not winning it. Antonelli is too good at this point in his career for Russell to recover this, in my opinion. And it seems like a weird day to say that, given this is the day that Antonelli has scored no points and Russell was scored 18 and Russell got pole position yesterday. There is too much there that wasn't there last year for Antonelli for Russell to get back in this, in my opinion. Do you think the overtake from Antingley on track is almost bigger than the points scored? Yes, 100%. I don't actually think, it's weird to say it because it's 18 points.

I don't think the points matter that much at this point. The statement of being able to overtake your teammate on track in these conditions says something. And I was reluctant to be overly into the Antonelli hype until we got to this point in the season because he started relatively well last year, even though Russell was better. And we got to this sort of midpoint in the year. We got to the European season. and that's where Russell was far better than Antonelli. We've now seen Monaco and we've now seen here as well.

It doesn't seem to be an issue again for him. And the theory is he's only going to get better from here. I can't see. Russell might well improve throughout the season goes on, but I can't see Antonelli not also doing that based on his age and his experience. I don't know exactly how the season's going to go, obviously. And I could well be wrong.

but I cannot see Russell winning the title. I kind of like go out on a limb here and say that he won't be there in 2027. I was going to stop short of that. It's definitely in conversation and a lot of that in our Discord going on over the race as well that Russell had basically lost his seat after this Grand Prix. If I had one pound to bet right now on yes or no for Russell being there next year, I would put it on no. I'm not saying it's likely or definite, but...

You're not writing it off. No, definitely not. But yeah, see how that goes. Strategically as well, I wanted to discuss Mercedes here. Do you think they lost themselves the race in some regard? I know we've complimented what Ferrari have been able to do, and I think rightly so. Antonelli, I think, lost quite a bit of time behind George Russell to the point where it was... The question was being asked, will Mercedes try and orchestrate something here to get Antonelli by?

Is there a chance that Mercedes have been so internally focused at this point in the year and that they haven't really had rivals outside of themselves that they've almost been caught napping? This is the lifelong problem of Mercedes. We've seen this for them for years now. The moment they're actually challenged in pure pace on the racetrack, they're unable to be proactive. They're unable to think or act first on the racetrack. They will not ever be aggressive and execute a strategy before anyone else. They had the perfect scenario where it was two drivers versus one.

And the amount of times that this happened with Max Verstappen when he was up against Lewis Hamilton and Valdry Bottas in kind of the late teams of Mercedes domination, it felt like they should have won. And the amount of times that Vastappen was able to almost mitigate the problem because Mercedes were not able to act faster, proactively. actively sooner. It's costing them again.

Why did they not go, okay, Russell was deciding to stay out once Hamilton's pit, but Anthony Ellie will go early. We'll pull the plug, or completely flip it round. Russell straight in. Kimmy, you gounced out for a long time. That's the way I think I would have played it. I would have done the same.

And yet I think they had this weird middle ground, especially on that second stop from Hamilton, where he was two, two and a half seconds a lap faster than both of them. And they're dilly-dallying, fighting. each other. They're going side by side. Pull one of them in. Change the strategy. Do something different. And they're just silent on the radio.

The most you hear is Bono going. Until it's too late. It's too late. They lost it. Bono was going, just be wearing track limits. That's not your concern right now. The concern is the guy in red, co-osing two to three seconds a lap faster than you. You're about to lose this. I will say in Bono's defense, like he's not the guy calling strapped. Like he has to be the one telling Antonelli that sort of thing because of course. Communication is good. It needs to come from. higher a different role to say like strategically what we can do here because I I agree like I would

have pulled in probably Antonelli probably probably Russell sorry at the same time Hamilton goes for his second stop and I think if they were in a different championship position right now they would have done I think if Ferrari were level or close to level on points with Mercedes I think they would have played it that way to ensure at least one of their two drivers was going to be on a different strategy to, to Hamilton, and one was going to be on the same. I think because up until this point, they haven't really had fret from these other teams, there might be a bit of complacency in there. I think you're right. I think complacency is the right work for it. I was really disappointed. And I think something actually that Antingalee still does need to learn,

despite coming on leaps and bounds and generational talent, I think is being used a lot, but I don't think it's incorrect. I do think he can learn to be a bit more of a cockpit dictator a little bit. The other guy that calls the shots a bit more to go, are we being undercut? Ask the question. Shall I come in? Should we do something different? You heard it from Russell. And while sometimes I think Russell will overthink his race strategy, I think we could see a bit more of answering any asking what's going on with the race strategy. Yeah, might well come in time. Might well come in time. Let's take our first break. On the other side, we're going to be chatting McLaren and Red Bull. Welcome back, everyone.

It was mentioned after the race that the podium today was the first All-Brit podium since 1968, which of course was comprised of the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes of George Russell, and a third team, the McLaren of Lando Norris. Ultimately not too far away from the Mercedes kind of drop back a little bit towards the end of that final stint. It's a tough one to judge, I think, because whilst we're very understandably focused,

on what Ferrari have been able to do this weekend, above and beyond what they've done so far, finally being a team to take a win off Mercedes. McLaren probably a bit annoyed they couldn't be that team. But at the same time, they're kind of there. I think you've got to give props to Landon-Norris here, more than the car. He's been brewing as well, I think, Landon Norris. He's like a few good performances that have gone quietly, you know, away in the distance. They've got amounted to a proper result.

but you look at what he did in Miami, for example, where he was chasing down Antingale for the majority of the Grand Prix. That was fantastic. And then we get here as well. And I actually do think that the McLaren is somewhere between what Norris was achieving and what Piastri was achieving. And Piastri's race was pretty woeful. It was pretty far off that pace.

I think he was ended up over 30 seconds back from his teammate. But Norris was just plugging away. He was trying so hard to keep up with cars I think were fast than him. Heading shoulders clear of the Stappan, Lecler. Obviously, Hadjar has the awful start, his teammate as well. I really think he's doing everything he can to be that scrappy little pest at the back of the queue that's kind of like, I'm here, I promise I'm still here. And I think he's really driving that car. You can hear over the radio that he's like, what you're going to do here? I'm trying my hardest. Props to Landon

Norris. Well, I think that McLaren has fallen off a little bit in comparison of race pace to their other two key rivals. I think it's Landon Norris that made the difference. Yeah, I think they'll be okay with where this race ended up. And I know there was a disappointment maybe that they weren't more in the fight for pole position because it seemed throughout practice that they would be.

But then also the race pace kind of looked a bit shoddy. And then we get to race day and at least on Lando Norris's side of the garage, it looks far better. And he was in the mix. And sure, he didn't... Imagine the race where Lewis Hamilton

is not involved here. and Antonelli and Russell were kind of battling for the lead, and Lando Norris is three seconds back, or at times he was one second back, right? I think we leave this race going, McLaren have done quite well here. They seem to be far closer to Mercedes. So whilst there's not going to be a lot of attention on them, I get why, I think they can be quietly happy with how this one has gone. Again, stressing on the Norris side of the garage here,

which we've seen Piastri and Norris very level at most Grand Prix over the last couple of years. I think there's got to be hope at least that Piastri can also do that future races. So yeah, I think they were looking okay. And if you take out Monaco, which as we know can be a bit of a weird, unique challenge, sure. Look at what they did in Miami. Look at what they've done here. Suzuki.

It's starting to come together, I think, for them. So it wouldn't surprise me if they're knocking on the door for a victory sometime soon. I just think they're a point of difference. Mercedes aren't going anywhere. Even if they're not going on, as saying a horrible weird world, they don't win this title, right? Despite having such an advantage at the start,

their advantage is directly tied to McLaren. A McLaren directly tied to Mercedes. If the advantage that the same is has falls away, McLaren don't have a point of difference. The chassis has to be so much better, and they got to do that at the end of the ground effect era. But here, Mercedes already have the head start. So they have the head start,

both with controlling their own engine, their own battery, either a gearbox and their own chassis, McClaren can't get ahead in any way. And by being a pure customer, I just think they're missing out. I think that is related to one of the areas where they will focus after this Grand Prix

because whilst Norris did a very good job of staying with both Mercedes, we saw late on in the final stint, Norris really dropped off the back of both of them, likely meaning that he was having to work the tires, work the car harder to stay in that fight until the point where we know the deck was really high, he couldn't keep up anymore.

That was McLaren's number one strength last year, and the year before, I think you could say as well. They were far better on tyres versus all the other teams. I don't think that advantage has carried over into this year. And if that is an area that they can at least get back to somewhere close to the top, then again, I think they could be in the mix for wins at some point relatively soon. the tire wear in theory for that final stint should have been quite level between Russell, Antonelli and Norris.

So Russell, at least in my notes here, Russell Pitt on lap 36, Antonelli 37, Norris 35. So it's all very similar. And I know, again, it's high-degg to the point where even one or two laps can make a difference. But it's not like Norris was dealing with a five-lap older compound compared to those two Mercedes. So the fact that he dropped off the back might concern them a bit. But overall, I think he can be pretty content. You mentioned Piastri.

Woeful was the word you used, right? Yeah, and I think when you're 35 seconds back from your teammate, it is hard to put anything positive really on the spin of your weekend here, beating and qualifying by the finest margin, but that finest margin turned out to be a bit of a canyon between the two teammates. And I think Piastri will look at this

and I'll be quite confused as to what's going on here. This isn't Piastra's strongest racetrack either. We've seen a couple of times here that he's been handily beaten by Norris. You'll remember. He was pretty good here last year, though. It was. But the year before, when we had a bit of an issue up front, we kind of spoke about how Piastri maybe should have taken his first victory here,

but was nowhere to be found. He was all the way back, I think, in sixth or seventh in 2023. So, 24, sorry. So I think the gulf between them might be more on driver than on car. I can't see what Piastri was dealing with. Norris wasn't in this circumstance. So I think he'll be asking some questions. It's odd because this feels like a

anti-anthali. This feels like a Piastri type of race in that and I'm not even talk about the race track itself, but I'm talking more about these multiple stops managing the tyres because that's effectively what we had last year. I can't remember if it was a two or three stop last year that Piastri won on, but we were dealing with multiple stops because of the high tire. He was very aggressive with the strategy, wasn't it?

Yeah, and he was having to see off Max Vassappen, who was doing. doing a bit of a similar, maybe similar, ish job to what Hamilton was doing today. But Piastri did brilliantly well to sort of see that off and go on to take a very comfortable race win. Everyone, if anyone ever references last year's Spanish GP, people are often talking about the Vastappan and Russell contact as the main highlight. Out front, Piastri was kind of just doing his thing and dominating that Grand Prix, which is why

I'm quite surprised that that didn't, at least in some part, carry over to today that he could do the same thing that Lando Norris did. A lot of it is track position, sure, in that Piastri was on the wrong side of that versus a couple of cars. I get that. But there was never any point, really, that Piastri felt like he was on the offensive against someone. It was always like he was either defending against the car or falling behind another car.

Never on the front foot. No. The way the Kerr got past him and moved on quickly, the Stappen forever out of reach for him. He was never in that fight. And I feel like he ends up close from pace to Hagar, and then he does to the guys in front. I wonder if Hager had a normal start, if he finishes behind him.

I don't know. I don't think it will concern him or the team too much in that they've been very close this year. I think going into this race, they might have been exactly level on points. He's dropped five points in total here. It's not the end of the world. Yeah, exactly.

And Piaastri's had two did not starts this year. Norris has had one did not start and one DNF. I think it's pretty close between them, so one result isn't going to massively sway things. But I think Piastri will be looking to the next race in Austria, just get that advantage back. What about Red Bull? Because it kind of felt like they weren't ever really in the fight out front.

Max Verstappen might have maximized his day, really, getting fourth place. Isaac Adja, as you reference, a tough start for him, meaning he's on more of a recovery drive. Yeah, I think Bostappen had a fantastic start. I think he did well to get himself up fighting with the cars around him. Relative to some other starts they've had as well.

Well, you look at Hajar's stuff, right? That's a direct comparison. The Staffen's right there with the McLaren guys. And if they could provide a Red Bull for him that was actually genuinely competitive, there's a real chance that he might have stuck with it and that him and Norris might have gone away. There was an occasion where Lecler was starting to close down of the Stapen. You heard over the radio, that's your race in front, only a couple of seconds, keep pushing. And I thought, here we go.

Lecler, look at the pace that Hamilton is. able to deliver, the Clare will close up to the back of the staff and pass him. And never did. The challenge never really materialising. I thought that was quite impressive from Max to be able to maintain the gap to the Clure. And eventually pull away, of course, the Clare ends up retiring with a reliability issue. But I thought that was a great race management in what felt like a very boring middle of the road, nowhere near anyone kind of Grand Prix from Max.

And on the other side of the garage, Hajar, terrible start. And actually, I think that's Hajar's fault. I think the wheel's being kicked in. He gets all out of sorts going. into turn one. I think it could have been saved, but it wasn't. But he does fight back to sixth place. Now, it's good recovery. I think Moore was on the cards for him. As I said, I think he'd probably kick a beat in Piastri, had he had a normal race start here. But to finish only two places behind your team, mate, and only dropped four points. It's not the end of the

world for him. Yeah, I think on Vastappan side of the garage, it was a weird race strategically, in that we knew going into the Grand Prix that he would only have one hard tire compound available versus pretty much everyone else having two. And I think it turns out that the hard tire was probably the best favoured compound. So yeah, Vastappen was a bit hamstrung by that. And yet they still made something work of it. But the reason I say the strategy ends up really weird, he goes soft, medium, hard medium. The shortest stint he did was on the hard tire.

The reason being obviously the VSC comes out and they decide to, rightfully take advantage of that and go on to that second fresh set of mediums that they had that other teams didn't have. So it made sense, but it just meant that maybe the tires weren't maximised. You want to be on those hard tires for a good chunk of this Grand Prix. And ultimately, I think Vastappen was on those tires for one sixth of the race. So in that, in that regard, I think he's done pretty well to get fourth place, helped obviously by Antonelli dropping out. But he was still, he was still on track for a decent finish anyway. I'm disappointed that there wasn't a bit more from Red Bull.

I think this will be the kind of race that will annoy this happen. I think he'll look at this and look at Formula One and go, I'm just got enjoying this. I think that's a problem. And we know that a duo is looming, not to make it too terrifying. Meaning there is a very realistic prospect. That it won't get better than this?

Can you believe that they've been judged at the best ICE? I can, weirdly, because again, in that first sector, that Red Bull is fine. And I do genuinely think in a straight line, it's got a lot of power. I think another, just to move the conversation slightly to the midfield here, I think the other proof of that is how good racing balls and Liam Lawson were at keeping rivals behind. Because no one could get by him, even though I think his race pace was arguably worse than the couple of drivers behind. So I can understand why the ICE is as strong as it is. The problem is either the chassis or the battery management.

Like the rest of the lap just isn't good enough. And it's a real shame because on a weekend where Ferrari of one, Mercedes were obviously looking on course for a double podium. And McLaren are right there as well with Lando Norris. It's a very comfortable fourth place for Red Bull here. Yeah, the way that Hadjar cut back through that midfield, I think also shows you just how dominant they could be against. a mess a car, right?

I mean, this is the greatest respect to Hatcher. It doesn't sway me one way or another. No, I have not praised him for the overtakes that he's doing because it was so easy for him to make those overtakes. I think Red Bull will be so frustrated that the one thing they've got going for them is the one thing that's going to essentially be penalised by giving benefits to other teams. Yeah, I think it could be. And I've thought, based on practice, they might be a bit closer than this.

I don't think that they were going to compete for the win in the same way that maybe Mercedes or Ferrari would. I felt... He's 40 seconds off the league. Yeah. I felt it would be closer than that. Yeah. I thought he could be not within touching,

it's necessarily of Norris, but I thought, you know, the gap might be between five and ten between Max and Norris at the English Grand Prix. And it's not. I've got it down here as 18 seconds between the two drivers. That's a big gap between a Red Bull and a McLaren.

Is it a bit worrying in that we had... We were asking a lot of serious questions about Red Bull going into Miami, and obviously we had the big break before we got to Miami. And we get there, they have a big upgrade, and it mostly works. Like, they definitely get closer. They weren't in the midfield as they were at the likes of Japan and China, right?

But it doesn't look like they've kicked on. It feels like that was, that's the best it's been so far. Even Monaco was all right with the second place on the grid. But now this, this has to be their, I think, worst race in terms of race pace since before that break. Yeah, I agree. you would argue that they look the closest to maybe topple Mercedes, especially when it came to qualifying. Max Verstappen had two front road starts,

and no one else did that wasn't a Mercedes driver before we got to Barcelona this weekend. Of course, Hamilton now taking that mantle. So you felt like if the one-lap pace was strong, that could then slowly move into a full race pace difference. And it's almost gone the other way. They've really stepped back and the other teams around them and now it feels like out developing them.

Yeah. in which case they can be relatively happy to take away 20 points on a day that no one team has taken more than 25. So they haven't really points-wise lost out a great deal. Finally, just on Hadjar as well, as soon as that start went the way that it did, eighth place or eighth place before the retirement, I should say, was the only way, there was the only finish he was going to have. He was always going to get by the midfield. He was always never going to catch up to anyone else.

His day was set as soon as that happened. It's just not fun though, is it? This is an issue with the current regulations. Well, I think we've had some good races. I thought today was a really good Grand Prix. It is frustrating that when a big team make a mistake, whether it be qualifying or it be in the Grand Prix, they can scupper themselves back to the most basic position

because the other guys just can't compete. They're not close enough. Yes, sadly, that is the way that it's going at the moment. We'll talk more on the midfield battles after this next break. Before we get there, though, shall 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. In all the praise and euphoria for Lewis Hamilton, I didn't actually see whether he won the vote. I'm guessing he did. I have no idea. I'd be pretty shocked if he didn't. But anyway, who's your driver of the day? It is Lewis Hamilton.

it was the best drive that I've seen from him. Maybe in two seasons, I think. Maybe since he did win. Thank you. It was a knock on. You're telling me it was an o'con. What? The guy that beat his teammate, due to a DNF.

Fegis just dabbing on the grave of Ben. Yes, it's Lewis Hamilton. My driver of the day, yeah, I don't get to say it that often, but he was sensational, by far the best driver on the grid to go. Yeah, I'm looking up and down the grid, and I don't think there's a close second today, really. I think it's definitely Lewis Hamilton.

Lando Norris actually probably would be second place on this list. Credit as well to Pierre Gasley in the midfield, although he was at least somewhat helped by that virtual safety car. It's why I've not brought him up. I thought Gasly did well. He had to be let past his teammate as well by Team Morgan. Couldn't get the overtake done. But, you know, like a good Grand Prix for Gasly.

Yeah, yeah. There's a few things that are going against him for being driver of the day. So I would also go with Lewis Hamilton. What about worst driver of the day? Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. Ben, bin, bin, bin, worse driver of the day. You suck at driving. Another race with a lot of retirements, things not going particularly well.

Where are we going with worst driver of the day? Tricky this one, because I don't think anyone made a blatant and obvious mistake. For example, we didn't have any stupid penalties handing out. we're having crashes, of course, up and down the track. So really difficult to pick someone from that regard. So I've had to go, in my opinion, on pace and pace against a teammate. And so I have gone with Hager in that sense. I think he's achieved the absolute bare minimum that I expect a working Red Bull to achieve.

And sixth looks complimentary because it should have been eighth. It does. And I can't lie, he is in my list of contenders as well. Oh, I might need, I might have to give it to him as well. No, I'm going to go with Alex Albon. Signs was far better than him this weekend. What you mean? A camera fell into his car.

Oh yeah, everything was going really well before that. My bad. Sorry, Album. Guy was on course for a podium until that wretched camera. People were the only thing stopping Hamilton from winging until the camera fell into the car. I mean, Williams were just, pants the whole weekend anyway, but

Seitz is ending up 12th, I don't know. I think he's actually had another pretty good Grand Prix. It's really good, any, Carlos Seitz? I swear that, vote. Sines is a top three driver this season. I stand by it. Check out by our rankings. Check out on Patreon. Come and check them out.

Yeah. What about Big Brain Strat? I need you to box for wets. What? It's not even raining out. What are you talking about? I don't know how long I can keep doing this for. Audi, sort yourselves out.

This isn't even talking about the Hulk DNF, by the way, which is sure he's actually on course for points at some point. Oh my God. They were actually kind of quick as well. Okay. Liam Lawson is ahead of Nico Holkenberg. Holkenberg, every single lap is between half a second and a second away. He cannot overtake him because, again, that racing ball's pretty good in a straight line.

Aldi just doesn't have the grunt at the moment to get by. Even though I'm pretty convinced, Holkenberg had the best pace of the midfield at that stage. He was quick. Lawson avoids an undercut from Audi. Makes sense. Lawson has terrible stop. Six and a half seconds. Six and a half seconds.

It might be the worst stop we saw all day. What do you do if you're Audi? Is it A? bring Holkenberg in the very next lap to actually pull off an overcut or is it B, wait another lap before bringing him in, therefore allowing Lawson to get the undercut on you.

It'll be that one, I think. No, it was the first one, Audi. Damn it! And that isn't even talking about what was going on with Bortoletto's race. I know Bortoletto's got a horrible start, but of all the drivers that could have got an undercut early on to get some clean air,

it was him. No, we're going to leave him out a long time. I thought, all right. Okay, fine. I respect that you've left him out there. Surely you're going to go long on the next thing. No. Now we're going short on the second stint. He was just stuck behind cars all day because Aldi apparently don't know how to do a strategy. They've got a really quick car. I keep saying it, at least relative to the midfield, but they don't show it. I haven't scored any points again, Ben. How? They are just as quick as Al P. and racing balls. I promise you,

the table, the championship table, is not telling you the truth in terms of pace. It's telling you the truth in terms of competency, but not in terms of pace. You know that Ascomatic

have got half the points that Audi do this evening. It's ridiculous. They only have two more points than Cadillac. I probably sound like I'm a massive Audi fan right now. I just hate that they have

this unfulfilled potential. Yeah. So, but I haven't really decided what my big press strategy. Ben just got off at one for fun. What was yours?

I'm actually giving it to Ferrari for a competent use of the free stop. I genuinely think it was fantastic. I thought the softs was silly. It worked. Hamilton's time management was great. The pit stops executed perfectly. They gave him the best chance to wing

and wing he did. Very good. Let's take another break. On the other side, we're getting into the midfield scrap. Welcome back, everyone. We now go to Alpine and Racing Bulls. We go to Alpine and Racing Bulls,

both of which scored double points, Gassley in seventh, Colopinto in eighth, Lawson in ninth, Lindblad in 10th. Alpin struggled in qualifying, but they seemed to have got their act together for the race itself. Yeah, but they had to have a helping hand

to get that act together. Colopinto blocking, I guess, Gassley, who was the faster of the two cars on the hard tire compound. Switch cars? What does that mean? He was really, maybe he's a big fan of the Will Smith hit song

in the early 2000s. Switch. Maybe. Wow. Not the Nintendo console. We're going to Will Smith early 2000. Come on. It's an iconic piece.

Yeah. It was interesting. And you would argue that being switched, as they did, in a stink of preservation of the tyres. It was management periods. You know, we saw that those cars were trying to eke out the laps. Was unusual. You could hear in Colopinto's voice at the time.

I'm not going flat out. I'm trying to make this tyres last. I don't really understand why you're trying to swap it. And yet, swap it they did. Gassley was very quickly gone up the road. He was a few seconds clear, very, very fast, able to join the fight, which was, I believe, Holkenberg and Lawson in front of him very, very quickly,

which became quickly a three-way fight. They were also helped out by the BSC. So whilst the result for Alpine looks really positive and another great double points finished for them, I do think that actually they've gotten away with one here. I think that they maybe weren't as clear in terms of pace of the likes of the racing balls as initially shown,

or expected, so to speak, and actually racing balls have come away a little bit unlucky to not pick up a few more points as due to how it's unfolded. I think it was pretty level between them. And based on racing balls having the advantage in terms of track position, I think they'll feel a little bit of grieved.

Again, the virtual safety car definitely helped Gasly's race, but the decision to switch him and Colopinto was absolutely the right one. Colopinto was fine, but Gasly was better today. And as soon as Gasly was released from that, as you say, he was then able to join the battle in front of him.

And then it was really a case of, we've got this racing balls in front of us. What can we possibly do about it? In the case of Gasly, it was the safety car. In terms of Colopinto, I think it was an undercut. So it kind of worked out for both of them. But you're right, it's not like they were head and shoulders clear of the racing balls today. But it was far better than practice. Like practice, they were really struggling.

So good for Alpine to pull it together, at least. Another great sign, of course, is that both the drivers have finished again next to each other. It shows that whilst I think Gassley was naturally the faster of the two drivers, as you would expect, Colopinto really has come along leaps and bounds. He's no longer this liability. He's no longer struggling. He's not crashing or having weird pace problems. He's able to run a race at really strong, consistent levels, and he's matching his teammate consistently.

He's reliable now. We're seeing really good results from Colopinto. It's a shame he's being replaced by Alonzo next year, isn't it? Well, I've heard it's Gassley. Is it the other one? Yeah, either way, it's going to be Gucci Alpign Alonso. That's the team. For the content, man, I don't think we can turn it down.

I just want Alonso in pure Gucci drip. That's all I need. Retiring in his Gucci drip. In terms of Lawson's defence versus Holkenberg, we know Holkenberg was unhappy about that over team radio. Did you see why? Yeah, I saw why. I do think it was probably the wrong side of the light.

Not the worst defence I've seen of moving under the breaking. and it did smell a little bit of old school Lawson who would kind of do anything on a racetrack to hold onto a position. So I understand why Holgerberg was frustrated, which is a shame because it was probably the only besmirchment upon Lawson's entire Groyd-Bring. We're being besmirched, the return of besmirch.

Bring it back! Hashtag besmirch. Yeah, I just think that his race was fantastic other than that moment, where I was really disappointed you could see that was his defence. Yeah, I was surprised that it didn't get a, black and white flag, unless it did and we didn't see it. I think even get investigated.

No. And I didn't think it would lead to a penalty because in most instances where something like that happens, the stupid... You get a warning first. Well, exactly. And that's where I thought a warning would come in. But apparently not. Other than that, though, I thought Lawson's defense versus Holcomburg was very good. And he needed to keep at it for a number of laps because it was quite an onslaught. It was pressure lap after lap, even after the pit stops had taken place.

So respect to Lawson for that. I also just want to say with Limblad as well, because I think he had a pretty good Grand Prix, I think somewhat just hurt a little bit by not making Q3 yesterday in that as soon as he didn't make Q3 and he was behind Holkenberg and he was behind Lawson. He was the one that it made sense to do something a bit different and he went very long on that first stint. Was he the longest? I think so, yeah. I think he went just longer than Bearman did.

He went 22 laps, according to my notes, which was far long. longer than most of his rivals did, he would have been begging for the virtual safety car or the safety car to come out at the right moment for him. It didn't. He then would have also been hoping for that virtual safety car or safety R to come out before his second stop. I think he made his stop two laps before it came out, which is pretty brutal. So slight timing differences, Limblob might well have got more than one point, but I still think he'll be pretty happy with his efforts. So it's a well-fought, Harg River one point. And I think he could be very very happy with the race.

Indeed. Anything else that caught your eye in the midfield? We've already referenced that. I just want to raise Carlos Sanks, if I'm honest. I just trying. It's just trying so hard, like a car that is being,

you know, is clearly rubbish around here. And Alba wasn't good. They had the problem anyway, so you kind of lose that reference point as well. But Scyt is really dragging a bad, bad Williams to a really respectable position.

It only have taken one more incident, realistically, to elevate him to close. to points again. So just want to shout him out. I thought it was a really good result from him. Yeah, I was pretty impressed as well that he was, he was keeping, what was it, Bearman and Bortoletto behind him. Bearman was on better tires than signs was, I think, at that point. And Bortoletto, the Audi was quicker than the Williams. So the fact that he was able to keep both of them behind until he decided, or they decided to stop him once more, very good. And we spoke to,

we spoke to James Vowls not as often as we usually do. I think he only made an appearance. once or twice. Yeah, twice, I think of most. Mainly because there wasn't a lot to chance about when it came to Williams, maybe. But I was, when he said that Signs is doing his best to fend off the guys behind, I was like, yeah, he's trying, but he's not going to do it.

And he kept doing it, credit too. Even though Bortoleto has eventually ended up ahead as a result of the undercut, I thought he, he scrapped away well. Sikes heard you and said, hold my beer. And that's why the Williams was so bad this weekend. Exactly.

Signs was drunk. No, just for legal reasons, he was not. What was it? But Bernie says don't drink a drive. Yeah, because someone crashed into the don't. Hasse are still a bit smelly, aren't they? Hars suck. They suck.

This is so harsh. Start the season. Well, haven't got the facilities of the resource to continue building up and improving the You have not got the facilities for that big man. O'Conn lucky that Bermann doesn't finish this Grand Prix because he's getting absolutely smoked like a ham and what did you make baking with Ben? Ham! Little piggy hasn't got any speed.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, he was not good. He was not good. He wasn't. They were going obviously different ways with the strategy and it made, well, first of all, I'm not entirely certain why they started O'Con on the softs and Berman on the mediums because whilst it went well,

and Ocon pulled off a pretty good move on his teammate into term one, you probably could have avoided that by just putting Behrman on the soft-tied start and then Ockon on the mediums, but never mind, worked out okay in the end. And then it felt like their strategies, which were very different, were at some point going to converge, but they converged much earlier than I thought they were going to in the Bearman's strategy and Bearman just quicker than Ockle. Just faster.

Behrman just faster. The car, I think, has slipped back to being the third's lowest car. now. I think they have only got Kagalak and Ashton Martin behind them. Even with Williams having a bit of a down day, I think the overall capability of that Williams is better than Haas. They need an upgrade brought in. They do. I think if you were to average the last three races or so, I'd put them where you just said third worst. It's a shame. It's a shame because it was really exciting seeing them fighting that midfield packing. It does feel like we've lost an element to that now. But we'll see because if you look at racing balls, you look at Alpine and you look at Williams, all three of them. they will have an engine upgrade advantage in theory over all of them. It's only Audi that they won't have an advantage over. So maybe that brings them back in later in the season, possibly. We'll see. Anything else on the midfield before we wrap up and go to our final segments?

Perez doing all right again, with me? I think he did okay again. Yeah. It's hard to measure. Especially with Botas doesn't ever finish. It was really tough today because his three rivals didn't finish. Yeah, yeah, but Perez is just consistently out there, plugging away, doing good laps and a car that is pretty road p. Good weekend from Perez overall. Qualifying went well. Upgrades seemed to have made a good, steady impact on the car.

Perez comes away happy. Before we go to our final break, actually, an opportunity for us to review our bold predictions from our preview episode midweek. If you weren't with us for that one, by the way, we have an episode out every single Wednesday, but on the week of a race, it's a preview-specific Grand Prix. And as part of that, we include bold predictions. What was yours, Sam? I said there will be eight changes for the lead. That's got eight different leaders. That's got eight overtakes on the racetrack necessarily.

That's got the whole up leg. Just eight different changes for the lead. With pit stops, we got to five. We got five, did it be okay. And then Lewis Hamilton deciding to just wing. Yeah. I think we would have got to seven had the routine happened. And if Hamilton got back through without the VSE,

I think I might have gone. I'll take five. No points though. No, and no points for me either. You were close at one point. I thought it was going to happen. I thought it was out. My bold prediction was that Antonelli and Russell would have contact that would lead to both of them retiring from the race. And even if it comes out that for whatever reason, the reason why Antonelli retired was in part because of the contact with Russell and the fighting.

Maybe I'd have tried to argue the point, but Russell didn't retire anyway. I kind of felt it. It felt close. I could smell it in the air a little bit, you know. I think I was right. Okay, so I wasn't correct, but I was right to predict it. It's like when you could smell the neighbor's barbecue. The logic was right.

Something's cooking. It's not me, but something very close is cooking. Well, another week, no points for me. We'll be back with bold predictions in about 10 days' time when we have bold predictions for the Austrian GP. A quick final break. On the other side, moment of the race. Welcome back, everyone.

Moment of the Race time. But before we have submissions from our Discord, Sam, what was your moment of the race? I'm going to go really boring, but it was fun for me. Lewis Hamilton takes the win. You haven't seen very often anymore. 106.

Good to see. I had a few. That was an obvious one. I had a feeling you might take that one. What did you have, sir? I will just name two in case. I mean, they're quite rogue, so I doubt they're going to come.

up from others. The Max Verstappen, it's quite impressive, actually. Team Radio for the way he was wobbling through the corners quite early in the race. Just made me laugh a lot. But my moment of the race, undoubtedly, is the Aston Martin pulling off an overtake. Alonzo making an overtake on Valtrey Bottas, whose car is just breaking at the seam, trying to get round the corners. but somehow Aston Martin and Fernando Alonzo have overtaken someone on track.

Can I need to work on that? What? Putting together a car that doesn't break. You need to stay together, please. Just for like a couple of three, guys. I love how there's not a non-patronising way of saying. That is just build a car that doesn't break. I mean, I respect what you're doing.

Great hustle. All one bit. Come on. Yeah. Alonzo overtake for me. But what have we got from our Discord? Thank you ever so much to everyone who put in a submission. We'll try and get through as many as we possibly can.

Let's start with Faster Than Your Mama. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but moment of the race, Alonzo DNF, you pulled it off Ferrari. Hey, Mambo, Plano Italiano. What's happening? I don't know. What's going on? I love that.

A bit musical. Appreciate it. Yeah, I enjoyed that. Thank you for the submission. That was great. Let's go to proper chops next. Haley, break. Long time listener, first time submit her.

But God, I had to. It's our boys' first Ferrari win. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. For that reason alone, it's worth the submission. That is an epic moment. We love a first-time, by the way. Thank you so much for kind of joining the disc or being a part of the community and submitting.

It means a lot. We always love to hear from the bungalori and his bongers. It's the McLaren CEO. Yeah, my moment of the race is the overtaking clinic that Isaac Hajar put on people in just any place possible to make it up for it. Yeah. I mean, in the clinic, what's he diagnosing? A plaster or a little scratch or something.

Come on. Bro. Like, it was fun to watch, but it was like, Zero AI. At least it would, there were some unconventional overtaking spots. Like, it does get boring seeing overtake just into one corner, but we saw a lot of around the outside of turns two and turns three,

which don't usually happen. So it was appreciative for seeing that. Thank you, bungers. Next up, we have Blaisey. Yes, Lewis wins. Lewis wins. Lewis wins. Lewis wins for Ferrari.

Yes, yes. See, regatsy. Oh my God. Finally, finally. Yes, amazing grace Lewis Hamilton. Oh my God, I'm so happy. Let's go, let's go, let's go. It's always good to hear from a disgruntled LeCler fan.

Thank you very much for that. Lewis Hamilton fan, possibly. I'm glad you're happy, Blasey. Like you're happy. Happy might be underselling that. Yeah. But we appreciate you sharing your happiness with us via moments of the race.

Very much appreciated. Now, I need to make sure I've got this name right. It's Samuel the Sage. Whoa, not me. Heavy eight world championships this year, this year, you heard it here. Oh, that was it. Basically, Hamilton's winning it all. Okay.

All right. That was Samuel the Sage. Very different to Samuel Sage. That's separate those two. So you're not predicting an eighth world title for Lewis Hamilton. I'm not going to say anything on this show. I think what you should say is he's already got eight and then just start a war in the comments.

I think you should play the next submission. Yeah, probably safer. We've got Graham's staircase up next. This is Graham's staircase. Graham laugh. Hold on, I'm doing my moment of the race. My moment of the race is definitely destructing tires

made for a great strategy race. And congrats Lewis. I wasn't ready, man. I wasn't expected role play. Crikey. Graham. Graham. Shut up, Grandma.

Oh, gosh. I feel like this is something we've been on all year is we're starting to get something of a formula put together after some tweaks. But we haven't seen tire wear pretty much anywhere up until this point. And finally we get two and three-stop races. And it's good. It's good. Two to four. I told you, the PR guy who does three-stops PR, terrible.

You need to be a PR team. The three-stop deserves more love. It really does. Back to one-stop's next race, no doubt. Last up, today we have Hazer. All right, boys, my moment of the race in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, sometimes my genius astounds me. Louis Hamilton after his second stop, Skybet, mispriced it 14 to 1,

jumped on that, 20 quid, 300 quid back. We are having the takeaway of all takeaways tonight. Cheers, boys. Sorry, Hamilton was 14 to 1 after the second stop. Hazers got himself an absolutely bargain there. Yeah, that is a steal. That's a steal. All in Patriot City, has a.

That's what we are expecting. That is what we're expecting. Thanks very much again to all of those submissions. Very much appreciated. We'll be back with Moment of the Reuters. in two weeks time. But that, of course, won't be the next time you hear from us. We've got plenty more episodes before then.

We've got midweek episode, of course, coming up. Just because there's no race next weekend, doesn't mean there aren't any episodes. But before that, even, we've got power rankings on Monday for those of you on Patreon. We do. We go through every single driver. We talk about what they go up to, how it happened, how it unfolded, and we grade them between zero and ten. And you get your say as well.

So if you're in Patreon, make sure you get involved with the poll that goes live There's a little form you can fill out, which make sure that you get an average of the Patriot score for every single one. So get involved. There's other perks in there as well. So we do beer with breaking where we kick back. We have a drink. We have a laugh. It's very silly, very fun.

We do classic race reviews where we go back and we talk about a new race from history each month. And you get two extra episodes and other benefits as well. Everything ag free on there. And it massively helps out the show. We make better content because of that support. So thank you for everyone that really does. Check it out. You can always cancel it on love if you got into it, if you're not your thing.

We'll see you midweek. We've got loads going. on if you're going to be on Patreon. We'll be going to break down more news topics, discussion points, key areas of Formula One, and then we'll be back very soon for more race reviews. Don't you worry about it. In that case, we'll see you in the middle of the week, I suppose,

what we've been? So, yeah, yeah, sounds good to me, mate. All right, I've been Sam Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.