The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 Belgian GP Race Review

Episode Date: July 19, 2026

A day of highs and lows for Mercedes at Spa as Antonelli stormed back to the top step while Russell's race ended in the gravel. The LB boys run through all the action, from Ferrari's penalties to Hadjar's impressive recovery drive and points for Audi. 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 F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Very warm, welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Eid, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. Reviewing today, the Belgian Grand Prix won by Kimmy Antonelli, returning to the top step after a short absence, Sam, but everything is back to normal now. I just want to make you wait for it. You just want, you know, when you get too much of a good thing, it kind of ruins it a little bit. he thought, I'll have a little break.

Let's someone else have a go. Bam, he's back again. Yeah, it was an interesting Grand Prix, some highs, some quite dull lows, and some really painful downshifts in a straight line. But we'll get into it as we go. How are you making it?

It's good to have you back. We're a trio again. Yeah, hi, guys. Yeah, we had a race, and it suddenly happened. Cheers, man. And that's still going to show. Thanks for stopping by. It was, yeah, it did have some good points,

but do you know what I miss? It's just, Onboards, man. Like, any on board would be good. I think it's worse that they'll go on board and then go, that's enough of that. Nope. We have done the lap that is okay to show.

But bye now. Yeah. Oh, shame. Yeah, I will confess that after Antonelli's poll lap yesterday, I went back and watched Landau Norris's poll lap from last year. Bad decision from me. My man's lifting off through Arooge. Yeah.

But as you say, there were plenty of bright moments. in this Grand Prix as well. Coming up on today's episode, moment of the race, of course, we'll be giving out our driver of the day, worst driver of the day, and our big brain strategy. Talks on the midfield,

how Bortoletto and Limbludd managed to win out in that fight. Max Verstappen, third place, not quite enough to challenge for the race win, but another podium for him. But let's start with Kimmy Antonelli and the way in which he was able to claim victory ahead of Charles LeCler in the Ferrari. Maybe not quite as simple as it is it could have been,

the virtual safety car helping Ferrari and helping Charles LeCler to ensure that Antonelli at least needed to get an overtake done on track in order to claim this win. Did so with about 10 laps to go, Sam. And whilst LeCleur maybe held on, Antonelli wasn't really under too much pressure from there on out. How impressed were you with what Antonelli was able to do extending his championship margin again? Yeah, up to 50 points now to George Russell, who will get onto later on in the show. This looked so comfy for Kimmy Antingeller, which I think is one of the biggest compliments

I could give someone of his experience levels so far in Formula One. Even when the start, maybe it did go to plan, maybe it was always in his plan to kind of let someone get in front of them use their battery going down the hill after the source to then use his battery, of course, going up to through the Campbell Strait. It was an interesting tactic. We saw Max Verstappen getting in front early on. And I think in a different time where battery wasn't as important and being flound, out was normal in a racing sport.

You may be thought, oh, I can hold on to this, or I could play a different game where I might do a little cheeky lift off at the top of Arooge and Radion and then allow the car to run out of momentum. We've seen it before with the likes of Hamilton and Vettel only a few years ago. But Kimi Antigna uses his battery perfectly, sales pass max for Stauffin. But to the point where Stappen is so little battery, that the Ferrari, who was also further back, is also challenging. And at that point, it looks so comfortable for Antingelli,

just sticking ahead, a couple of seconds in front. front. So I look at where Bono comes over and says, your ties are good. If you want to actually go faster, you can. You can step on it if you want, mate. It's got, oh, oh, too many fastest laps normally. Should I go? Fine. Now I'll go faster.

And he did go faster. He comes out in front. And then we've got the VSC, of course, that kind of ticks off. And LeCler manages to execute that with Ferrari fantastically well. But even when that occurred, Antigone's pace is so strong. And the Ferrari just doesn't seem to be a match around the track like this. it always felt inevitable that Antingale was going to retake the lead. Even with the gap when he had Norris in the way,

where the matching power unit between Mercedes and McLaren maybe overtaking a straight line was slightly more difficult. Once he got past the McLaren, it felt like it was just a matter of time of when it will happen, not if it will happen, but when it will happen. And it did. And it felt quite matter of fact when he got past. It wasn't much of a challenge.

Not that it impacted the end result. I was interested when Antonelli came into the pit on what I, think was lap 18, a couple of laps before the virtual safety car. But there was a virtual safety car on that lap as well, but it ended before he came into the pits. I was wondering whether they were planning to pit because the VSC made an appearance and then they would just abandon that. But they kept going with it anyway, maybe thinking that that was the right lap, regardless

whether there was a VSC or not. But again, didn't affect the end result here. Harry, what did you make of Mr. Antonelli's performance? Just on that, well, they're not trying to cover office happen anyway on that pits. They might have been. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I agree with what Sam says. And I think I said this on, was it after Silverston?

There's just like an inevitability about Antonelli at the moment. Like even when Ferrari and LeClaire came out in front of him later on the race, you just thought, I just not going to last very long, is it? You know, it's, I mean, LeClair held on for a while, which is credit to him. But yeah, yeah, he is unflappable at the moment, is Kimmy Antonelli. And Martin Brundelie made this point. in commentary. There was no sort of hysterics

over the radio or anything about losing the place after the, under the VSC, just went on and got it back again. So, yeah, his pace is mightily impressive. And I thought his lap one racecraft was superb.

Is he playing chicken? A little bit of chicken. Or yo-yo racing, as McLarenda calling it now. Oh, God, so that stupid messic later on. Yeah. But I think he is driving these cars as well as or better than everyone else. I think he's driving to what these cars are capable of just better than anyone. And he knew that if he lost the leader, as well, F1 post, they made a big thing about Vastapin taking the lead at the bottom of Aroo, which, yeah, finally, it's pretty impressive thing to do.

But it's just, I was like, he's done that on purpose, man. I don't know he's let him go. He knows he can get back past him at the end of the straits. Yeah, he's just driving very, very canily, very cleverly. And that combined with the raw speed that he's got all the moment is a pretty lethal combo. And it's coming from a driver that's in his second year in the sport. If we'd said preseason, as I'm sure we probably did,

that these regulations are going to take a slightly different driving style and it might be more of a thinking man's year possibly. And you wouldn't have immediately put Antonelli to the front of that queue as someone who will take advantage of that. and yet here he is seemingly week on week doing this sort of thing where I had the same read on that first lap as you did, where Vestappen sure he got ahead going into Radeon, I fully expected Antonelli to have played the game correctly that he would repass by the time we get down to Lecom and that's exactly what happened. Very impressive pace. I don't think it was Antonelli's best win of the year. That's not really an insult towards Antonelli in any way. given he has some very impressive results to this point in the year. But his level of dominance maybe wasn't the same as what we saw at, say, Monaco.

But he did look very much in control. I think the only slight disappointment in Anconelli's performance, again, didn't really cost him, is how long it took him comparative to Charlerc to get by Lando Norris, when Norris hadn't stopped. He was stuck for a fair few laps behind Lando Norris, whereas it felt like Charles LeClau was actually the one who kind of did what Antonelli's done all year, which is just rock up and get the move done almost straight away. But that's very much nitpicking what was otherwise an almost flawless performance.

And I almost give Antonelli credit for the move that he got done to win this race. When there are 10 laps to go and you get a move done for the win, and there's, respectfully, there's barely any reaction to it. I think that actually says a lot about firstly, this track, these battery management rules. But it also says quite a bit about Antonelli and how it did feel inevitable. Like ordinarily, if there's an overtake for the lead, 10 laps to go, it's like edge of your seat almost,

oh my God, I can't believe that's happened. Antonelli just rocks up, gets it done, job done. There wasn't a lot of, yeah. It emulated what we saw a lot with previous generations when it came to DRS passes, didn't it? the way that we saw going down the Campbell Strait, the battery starts to deplete for the car in front. They can't quite keep up.

The car behind's got bigger deployment due to the overtake zones. He rocks straight past him, right? He's there before the braking zone. We saw no fight into the breaking zone, no tussle through that chican where we might have a bit of wheel to wheel, which is actually a reason area I would praise of these regulations. So often we see a car next to another car, or we see a car come straight back past another car.

And unfortunately, with the way that SPAR is, with the way the regeneration works and how difficult it is, the battery charged, it was done and dusty within one corner, which is a real shame. Harry, it's not two wins in a row for Charles LeClaire, but it was Ferrari remaining relatively competitive with Mercedes here. LeCler, again, even though he couldn't get back by Antonelli, was staying within a second or two. Any surprise at all that on a track like this, Ferrari was still able to compete as much as they did? A little bit surprised. I think it's, yeah, it's well known that the power tracks

are not their friends and obviously that did show up a bit in qualifying but race base wise they were they were very solid and obviously get onto Hamilton but had he not had a bit of damage and the right or the wrong front wing setting who knows where he'd have got to too

but yeah so a bit a bit surprising but encouraging for them that that's the case to be honest and they should take they should take comfort in the fact that they went to now after Hungary which is the complete opposite it and it's downforce heavy, so they should be feeling pretty good about that. I know he was lucky with the, or fortunate with the VSC,

but that's why they left them out there. But I thought LeCler's pace overall today was very good, or as good as it was in Silverstone, and we praised him a lot in Silverston. So I think he was very good. Agreed. The result might well have been the same at Silverstone, if the end of the race had panned out slightly differently. It might have been exactly the same thing.

Do you view this as a more positive or a more negative, for Ferrari some. I think they got a little bit lucky. Again, the VSC is a strategy, but we don't often get two VSCs, basically a lap and a half after one another. That is very rare. Usually, you try to leave someone out for a BSC or a safety car, you tend to get one shot at it. And I think they were a bit lucky that a second one emerged, get the right moment. And no one could benefit from the first one. Right. No one got in the first one. We spoke about this. They were all halfway around the racetrack. No one was coming in. So the fact that there was a second one so soon after, I do count that as luck because the strategy might have accounted for one.

I don't think it does for two. And they take full advantage of it. And I think that benefits Hamilton as well who had to serve his penalty. He obviously managed to mitigate a bit of the time lost due to that stuff as well. I also think that the way that Russell gets removed from the Grand Prix, we'll get onto that as an instant later wrong in the show. But I do think that again helps the likes of LeCla. He's only got to fight one, the say he's at that time as well.

Again, there's the elimination of Norris with the penalty. that helps. Hajar, who I think had a really good Grand Prix. He's starting at the back of the Grand Prix as well. Piastri picks up damage early on. There's a lot of things that are

kind of, they're only small, minute things, but they're all little things that go Ferrari's way. And A Claire, who got away with one, I think, which again will get on to against Piastri, hangs up being second place. His pace was great. But I also think there's a series of events here that have gone in Ferrari's direction.

Yeah, I think they were pretty solid at a racetrack where I wasn't fully confident they would be. I think they maybe matched my expectations roughly or so from the midweek preview. I know Sam, you were maybe less confident about them coming into this weekend versus last weekend. So I think that's pretty encouraging for them that they've done quite well here. Maybe slightly frustrating that on a day where Mercedes suffer a retirement, they've only gained, I think, five points in the Constructors' Championship over their rivals. And that might not stay at five. we don't yet know what's going to happen with Lewis Hamilton and the unsafe release,

whether that will just be a fine or whether that will be a penalty against Hamilton or not. But yeah, I think Ferrari can be relatively content with this one. Sam's name with you, you mentioned the one that maybe he got away with, the defence on Oscar Piastri. Do you think that this deserved a penalty? Skewards calls today were woeful, absolutely woeful. Disagree of both decisions made when it comes to both Ferrari drivers. I thought the clerk deserved a harsh a penalty than what Hamilton picked up.

I thought the clerks should have picked up a 10 second time penalty, moving in the breaking zone. We've seen how dangerous that can be. And I think they're again judging based on outcome rather than on incident or incident, if you're a young child of clericals. And I think that's what's happened with Lewis Hamilton. He's been judged upon the retirement of George Russell. And I actually think his penalty was softened because it was a lap one incident in their eyes. Whereas I think here, because it's only been a slight bit of contact and Pia Astrid is wise. to it. And so the damage has been limited. I think they've gone, uh, both cars have come away

pretty much all right and they both go around the racetrack. So we'll move on. I really think this should have been going to take second time penalty. I think it was quite dangerous. And I'm surprised that he's gotten away completely free of charge. Uh, random one, Harry, reminded me a bit of um, 2019 Monza when Lecler was going up against Lewis Hamilton. And there was another incident there is a bit more, a bit more noteworthy, perhaps where Hamilton is forced wide from Lecler defending. Did you think that was worthy of a penalty like Sam does? I think the 2019 one was. Yeah, I don't care about the 2026.

We've gone back to where we started. Yeah, I agree. I think it should have been a penalty, Michelle. I wouldn't have gone for a 10. I would have gone for a 5, but it wasn't deserving of nothing because those sorts of things, you know, moving in the breaking zone

can be super dangerous, especially at a place like spa, either with slightly lower speeds these days. As Piazsche said, that could have been a massive shunt. So, yeah, I don't know why, well, I'm inclined to agree with what Sam said, but I don't really know why they're deeming that as, you know, nothing doing for that one. And I presume, as Sam said, it's because they didn't have an actual crash,

which is dumb. And that's a dumb way to Stuart. I'm glad you're all back, mate. Thank you. Dumb. That's the analysis I want. Thank you. I thought it was incredibly marginal.

I can see it being a penalty. I can see it being nothing given there. I think maybe where we've seen incidents of moving in the breaking zone, it's been a lot more, I don't want to say deliberate, but a lot more obvious than what happened there, whereas it seemed almost like LeClau was shading towards the outside of the corner there. I personally would have given a penalty as well, but like Harry, I was leaning more five seconds.

What about the other incidents? Lap one, of course, George Russell versus Lewis Hamilton, sees George Russell out of the Grand Prix and once again, facing quite a large deficit in the championship, now 50 points behind his teammate. Lewis Hamilton gets a five-second penalty. Sam, you mentioned that you disagreed with both stewards' calls today, so I'm assuming here you thought like Martin Brundle did in Sky Sports commentary.

It was a racing incident. I agree. I think this was a racing incident. And I agree with George Russell, whose verdict when he gave his big race interview was racing instinct. And I stand by you, George Russell. I'm always be a Lewis Hamilton fan. It doesn't matter how.

Can't help it. We've seen collisions like this before, where the car being collided with, for example, or the one on the outside hasn't ended up out of the Grand Prix. They might have run off onto a runoff zone. It was a tie-to-tire big of contact, and we've seen so many times that both cars actually have a bit of a tussle and get away with it,

and there's no problem. And so often on a lap one collision, we get away with racing instant, It happens. The cars are also closed together. We move on. Again, I feel they have judged the outcome of the incident and not the incident itself. And so a retirement is involved and therefore a penalty must be displayed. And I don't think that's fair. I don't think that's consistent in their ruling here. So you look at the way the incident happens. So we go around the outside of a car, you need to be very far ahead realistically. I think your rear tire has to be on the front axle, essentially, to be garled room in the move, I think. And in that case, you know, I know it goes from right very quickly to left. Hamilton's got a car in front of him. He's washing across. Whilst I do think the inkling is more wrong, Lewis Hamilton, I actually think it should be more than racing.

I'm going to give Harry the deciding vote here because I think the stewards got it correct. I also would have gone for a five second time penalty. It was close and if you view this as a racing incident, I think that's completely fair. I think it's the last minute snap that Lewis Hamilton gets. I think without that, I do think they avoid. avoid contact and they both get away with it. But because of that, I would give it a five second penalty for Lewis Hamilton,

although I do agree with the point where we've seen similar incidents in the past not penalized because there hasn't been an incident. I don't think that's right either. But I do think if we're looking at this in isolation, that it was worthy of a penalty, which means I'm going against Mr. George Russell on this one. How are you going now? What are you going for? Oh, sorry.

I'm agreeing with the stewers on this one. It's very marginal. And like you said, Ben, the only thing that really just nudges it to a penalty for me is, Hamilton's not still on the apex of the corner. It's not still on the curb. He's washed out slightly, and that's what's caused the impact.

But it's very marginal. I think, like we've said already, the more frustrating thing is that both of these isn't, should have been a penalty, or at least I believe they should have been a penalty, and it's not consistent across the board, because one car was in the gravel and the other one carried on. So, yeah, a marginal one. Side note, at some point they don't sit on Twitter,

I'm not blaming Hamilton for all of these, but Hamilton's had like five accidents. I was just about to say, if I had a penny for every time he's hanging instinct in Lake Coom, I got five pennies, and a lot of pennies for something to happen in Formula One. Absolutely not all his fault, but random, because for a man it doesn't crash very often.

The Alonzo one comes to, that was, that was on Hamilton from memory. But that's one with Rosberg, right? Yeah, probably the Alonzo Hamilton one is why I think this is penalty, because there was the opposite way around and Hamilton's on the outside, but he squeezed Alonzo, right? And Alonzo didn't wash out.

So that's why I'd say this one is Hamilton's penalty, but yeah, marginal. Yeah, if you actually look up the original Latin for Lake Coom, it translates to Hamilton Crash. I think they say marginal. Marginal. Marginal Coom.

Just a little bit of Coom margin. Mini Coom. Minicum. Before you've got a swallown of hair to brush. Oh, it's a mini cum. I'm a mini cum. Well, that seems an appropriate place to go to a break.

On the other side, we're getting into Red Bull and McLaren. Sam, as you know, I have a big birthday coming up very soon. The good news is I'm dealing with it really, really well and not having an existential crisis in any way, shape, or form. I'm completely fine with the real life. that there are now more drivers on the F1 grid younger than me than older than me. Yeah, I don't believe you. That is fair.

But I have at least found something that helps, and that's Blueprint's longevity mix. Blueprint came from a simple idea. If you're going to build a daily longevity routine, it should be based on research, careful formulation and ingredients chosen for a reason. What I really like is how simple it is. It's just one scoop mixed into water. And get this, it's designed to support things like, energy, cognitive performance, mood, focus, sleep and cellular resilience.

Cellular resilience? Surely not. It's true, I promise you. But don't just take my word for it. Blueprint, third party test its supplements for purity and contaminants. And they publish those results so you can see exactly what's in them. Sites back, precision dose, no BS. For a limited time only, new customers get 20% off and free shipping at blueprint.

Brian Johnson.com by using code late at checkout. That's code late at blueprint. Brian Johnson.com for 20% off. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show, St. You. Welcome back, everyone. Thanks for staff in third place. Very, very temporarily in the lead of the Grand Prix

on the first lap, but it became quite evident thereafter that he didn't quite have the pace to compete with, not only Kimi Antonelio, but also Charlotte Claire after the virtual safety car, but nonetheless, 15 points for third place. Harry, was this just a case of Red Bull not quite having enough today? Yeah, I think so. I think Max got the most out of that car today. And to be honest, I think if Hamilton hadn't had his sort of incident-strewn race,

I think he probably wouldn't have been on the podium at all. So made the best of what he had, I think, qualified. where he did flattered him with the Hadjato because I don't think necessarily he'd have qualified that high up but they did it, it worked and all credit to them. So yeah, Vastappen made the most of it. I just don't think he had

don't think he had the pace today and did well to hold off any McLaren attacks. Yeah, I'd have to agree with you. I don't think they were quite there. You mentioned that maybe Vastappen wouldn't have finished on the podium if not for Lewis Hamilton's penalty. I am not convinced he would have finished ahead of Lando Norris if Norris started higher up. I think McLaren and Norris maybe had the advantage.

So in which case, P3 is actually a very good result for him. Sam, what did you make of Vastappen's pace and maybe Red Bull not quite being there in the same way that they have been at, say, Austria earlier in the year? I thought Max Wastappen was pretty fantastic today. I thought he drove a race above his station for the car that he had at his disposal. clear that Red Bull are still lacking, especially in the battery department, because they're so good

in that middle sector. You saw it when he was attacking the likes of Landon Norris, the way he would close right up or pull away if he was also being attacked. And it was immense the way that they could use the chassis to really get away from them. But he set this one and three, just got nothing left to give. And I imagine that Ian Beale is the lead engineer at Red Bull. By the way, sorry? I was just going to ask, like, could you imagine explaining to someone who's maybe newer to F1, that Red Bull, the one that's really quick through the the corners in the middle part, that's the one with the best engine. I know, right?

And that's how a duo works, folks. And that is fairness. That's made it laugh. It's like the ghost lap that they had with Verstappen behind Antolelley and qualifying yesterday. And Anceles is just pulling away on the straits. He's like, what are we doing it? Best engine right there, folks.

That's how it works. Mercedes is a struggling, man. Oh, man. On the struggle bus, man. Cut to George Russell crying in the internet. Anyway, the only thing I do think about Max is I do think he's absolutely sold a bag of chips on that first lap. I think he deployed all that battery way too soon and it felt like a bit like school play. But Antigelli wasn't the child in this environment and he absolutely sold in one.

Really well judged, really smart driving from Antingelli. And that's actually what I expected from Max. Because when the start happened, I thought Max intentionally didn't go for it into LaSau. It did not go for it to turn one with the intentional following all the way through Erujean Radeon to attack up Lecom and then doesn't. Goes too early. Get sold one. And he's like, yeah, cheers, easy. I'll have your back thing. And just no battery all the way to line.

The same is Russell, who I think it was one to third for Max, and it was three to six for Russell. And that's just, you were absolutely mugged off, absolutely mugged. And I just think that's really bad management. I didn't expect that from Max. I do wonder whether it was just a case of, I'm going to go for it. See what happens. Yeah.

If I can keep it, so be it. If I can't, it doesn't matter all that much. I think even if he had managed to hold the lead or hold second place through that first lap, I think the result probably would have looked rather similar. Again, Red Bull, not too far off, but maybe similar to what we saw at Silverstone, just a little bit back from that leading group of two.

And they'll be hoping that when we get to, maybe when we get to Hungary, that's where Red Bull can shine again and maybe we start to see something like Spielberg where Vestappen was able to not claim the win but very much compete for it. And maybe he's hoping that that will be, even if we go into like the second half of the season,

I'm not sure apart from Monza that we will get a circuit where battery management will be as prevalent as it was today at Spa. I think there's quite a few circuits coming up that will be a little bit friendlier in which case maybe that's where Red Bull can start. to start to claim some, maybe not even claim some wins, but compete for all them. You know, we've been having a laugh with the Cedric Diggery, my boy.

I don't know. You talked about. I would laugh at that. That was painful. Good. I've got all aware. That is the noise that's going to go through my head when we watch Monsa be absolutely massacred by this battery. That's going to be you through Ascari. Through Ascari. The flat curbs on it as well now. My Ascari. That's it. Ascari is my boy. Yeah, that's fair.

Despite being several years younger. What about Isaac Hadjar's recovery Grand Prix? So we knew going into the weekend that he was going to be starting from the back row of the grid, manages to make it all the way up to sixth place and holds off Lando Norris to finish in sixth. What did you make of it, Harry? That was a really good, really good drive from Hadjar. Obviously, he pitted under that first safety car, which was, you know, wise and why not get get your tire stops done,

and then just sit on your hard tires for the rest of the race. Could I just say as well, and we are on this show, big fans of Bernie Collins, as previously mentioned, the Sky Commentary team being like, I can't believe Norris is still out

on those hard tires for 37 laps, and then Bernie Collins has been like, yeah, but Hadjar's been on them for even longer, mate. For like 40 laps. Yeah, so, yeah, it can happen. They started the broadcast with, and we've got the hard tire, which we've been told could do the entire race distance,

but you do have to run two different compounds. So what were you expecting? Chahue. Hadjar did get off those hard tyres, though, didn't it? He used two different. Obviously, he went hard, medium hard. Yeah. But then he went on a different hard tire again.

Did he get that? Yeah. I don't remember him picking again. He pit under the virtual safety car, but that was... So he bit twice under the... Safety car. Yes. To get onto...

new hard tires, but then he pit, he pit again under the virtual safety car lap 20 to get, I assume he went back onto the same tires he started the Grand Prix on. Brough. Okay, mine blown. I'm convinced he's used two different sets of hard tires today. I will believe you. I'm sure Bernie Collins has pointed that out. Anyway, either way, he did quite well today, didn't he? He had Isaac.

I thought it was a really good recovery. And obviously it wasn't really his fault to be going to the back of the grid in the first place, helped out the other team in Kuali to sacrifice a better grid spot. And then drove well through the field, made that whatever strategy you did, made it work. Eight stop, 12 stop. All hard tires. Every lap, mate, 44 stops. Just did them all hard tires every time.

Another one. Wait, I think he did three stops, but did one lap on the medium tire. So, managing new hard tires out of rubber they found from, other individuals. He's going to show up at next week still using these ones. I think, except, no, no, the tires are completely separate week to week, Isaac. You can't use these. It doesn't care.

I thought it was pretty impressive from him in that we don't give too much credit when it comes to a top driver, a top team, a driver and a top team sort of coming back through the field as he did. I still felt he was fairly clinical. He didn't get stuck behind any driver for very long, got clear of that midfield. strategy kind of worked in his favor. But they did play into that. And it was very clever of Red Bull to essentially fulfill the tire requirement in the first couple of laps to make sure he was on the medium tire for one lap and then could just use hard tires the rest of the way. So it did work out

in his favor. But I thought it was pretty good. And as soon as as soon as it made that last stop, his pace versus Vestappen, his pace versus the front two, not much, in it? It was very close. And of course he was able to hold off Lando Norris. So, job well done, I think, from Isaac. I know everyone's on the edge of their seats, but you are right, Ben. Lap 20. Woo! I got someone with track attention.

My reputation was almost in tatters. I was too busy and going to the Discord, because apparently I can see into the future. My stream is apparently so far ahead of everyone else's. You have always had this. I've just seen the world champion get crowned. Who was it? I can't tell me. You're ruined it.

Can you just tell me if it was Esteban Ockle or not? It was. Come on. Oh, sorry, I meant F2 World Champion. I don't even know if we win that at the moment. What about McLaren? Oscar Piastri, P5, Lando Norris, P7. Seems like a fairly similar story from what we've seen so far this year, Sam.

Yeah, really odd one. Norris looked on it, but also struggled at one point to get past the likes of Lin-blood, who of course has the upgraded racing balls in comparison to Lawson's non-upgrading racing bull. Then they had, the bit I want to bring up about McLaren is, again, the failed communication between what's going on between both drivers. Are you racing for a position, or are you working as a team

and allowing a driver of a different strategy to come through? Because Piastri's in front, and Norris is like, oh, sorry, sorry, you know when you're in the supermarket, you're trying to get around someone, you go, both go left, both go right, that's what it felt like with McLaren, we're like, sorry. And then after the third time, it's a bit embarrassing. And you're trying to pick them up and move them past you.

That's what it felt like with McLaren, whereas like, do I overtake you? Can I overtake you? You're going to get a crash? Don't know. It felt horrible. And then immediately after we kind of decided that, oh, right, they must have had team orders there.

Piaastri's neck Norris through. All good because of the damage. That makes whole sense. Pistri then re overtakes Norris. Norris is proper fight for it as well, darting to the inside. And then later on the race, I don't want a yo-yo race.

I'll explain later. Omolus. Omolus messages from. McLaren again. Why do they overcomplicate everything? It's just Norris is faster than Piastri at that point of the Grand Prix. Get out the way. Just say that. You don't need to go into this, well, we'll discuss this later and we've got this weird strategy, but we're not going to tell you about it now. We're going to reveal it later on when we're doing our deep-bush. No, just say Norris is faster. Get out the way. You're not fighting for a world title anymore. We're not in 2025. Neither drive was going to win that

Grand Prix. So who the hell was it? Maximize your points. And it's the same thing in reverse. It's like, Piastri just needs to get by Lando Norris. Tell him to get out the way if you're not going to box him. Neither officer winning. We're separate strategies. Move out the way at your easiest convenience. Thank you very much. Move on. And this is what annoys me about McLaren. And you want to be a fan of them. You want to cheer them on. And they do silly buggers like this over the radio. You just think, what game are you playing? It was just odd. So, yeah, they finish fifth and seventh. It might be fourth. it might be fourth and sixth.

If Hamilton gets a penalty for running someone over, we don't know. But it wasn't great, was it? It was very fine. Put Norris were up a good fight against some of the other drivers on harder tyres. What did you make, Harry, of Norris' strategy in this one, of course, went much longer than everyone else. It didn't take advantage of the early virtual safety cars or safety car, and ultimately going from hard to medium tyres for the end of the race.

I think it was worth a shot, given where he was. but yeah, I think and for the most part his pace was pretty good obviously he was left out on those times for quite some time as mentioned but it was I think it was worth rolling the dice for

because I don't think they're going to achieve much more from where they were where he was starting but you're right the ridiculous back and forth between the drivers and the team and what they should be doing

really enjoyed Martin Brown as describing it as a bit lumpy that's exactly how I'd Absolutely lumpy mashed potatoes, won't it? I was talking to my dad, actually, before the race began, we were watching the Grig Walk. Brundo is such a good presenter. I think a lot of people forget he was an F1 driver

because he's so good at describing what goes on and the way he phrases it. It might be very British-centric, I don't know, but it just works. Lumpy is such a great adjective. Yeah, that's a bit lumpy. Oh, that's a lot of lumpy. Thank you, Martin.

I know exactly what you mean. Yeah. I couldn't explain it back to you, but I know what you mean. mean, son. I've got it. Perfect. So yeah, I think overall they can't do much more.

And even with their weird yo-yo racing, I'm not sure it made that much of a difference in the end. Do we think the slow stop cost them just one place, just the Hadjar spot? Probably. Margino, so that Hadjar was doing quite a great, great job. But he'd have been closer, wouldn't he? So let's go with, yeah. I think he would have got him.

It was about five seconds they lost, right? I actually think he probably might have being his teammate. Well, that's what I was thinking, is it just agile? It probably depends how quickly you could overtake him, if he could overtake him at all. I really enjoyed Lewis Hamilton, because I just dropped like five seconds on the last lap as well because he went from being about three in front of the pedestrian to like one.

And you just think, Louis, mate, you might have a penalty coming here, and these cars are all going quite quickly behind you. Do you want to keep going? That's packing. I thought that was a bit of a theme in that Hamilton was maybe a bit quicker in the earlier part of since today than the latter. Same happened with Lecler, right, right? The start after the instant.

Yeah, you know, it's like, I'm losing time behind. I'm losing time with him, Hermano. And the Claire is just like, you know what? I'm just going to keep going. No one answered it either. No one answered. Like, Lecler is definitely saving ties at this point and then kicks on quite comfortably.

But, yeah, Hamilton not his best. Maybe not. Anything further on McLaren? Hungary, a circuit they've gone very well at in the past. So maybe, maybe a try. transformation in fortune there. Flushing at these straws I have somewhere up here. No.

Hard to know in McLean, honestly, their form doesn't correlate to anything. They're just a third place team. That's what they are now at the moment. Sorry, this season, that's what they are. Very literally, that is what they are. That is what they are. And they will have races where they're closer to first and second,

and they have races where they're further away, closer to the fourth. and this race felt like very much a proper third place team performance. The gap from McLaren to Ferrari is bigger than the gap from Ferrari to Mercedes at the moment. Yeah, which I'm not surprised about. Yeah. Shall we review some bold predictions? Now, the good news is, Harry, because you weren't here, you can basically just make up what it would have been,

and we're just going to have to accept it and go, well, well, well done. And I get a point? Yeah, yeah. So your bold prediction was that Hamilton and Russell would have crashed for lap one, right? Yeah, I would have said that if I was here. Thank you. One point to me. Mist it, Harry. Fair play, man. Wow.

Yeah, you're welcome. I might start missing race previews. We're just kidding. You don't get any point, sorry. Sam, what was your bold prediction? Not getting a laugh anymore. I am stopping the laughing. Crying now. I said that there will be a podium for someone outside of the usual four teams that we see on the podium.

Repeated, i.e. Gasly in Monaco. It did not happen. Needed rain slash carnage. I thought for a minute with the way the crash happened on that one we might have seen someone you know, do a classic oh, I've had to go on the rung off and suddenly having third and oh, but no, never.

Never mind. I would like someone to make that noise. Oh, I'm in third. I'm in third. I'm in third. That's very different. The, oh, it's different from the, ooh, you've got two different noises there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they mean very different things. They do. My bold prediction was that Max Verstappen would get pole position well done on your second place, Max Verstappen. Never mind. At least it wasn't close.

It was still three tenths or so. But there was at least a part of me earlier in the qualifying session where I was like, I actually, I was for a minute, thought he's got this. I mean, Sam, I've never got this. No, you've never got this. Have you scored a point in the last season? I think I got one last year. All right, okay.

So I reckon I'm on about one in the last 18 months. Good. It was like Ferrari wings. Ben, I went away for two months and you still scored the same as you have. Yeah. Correct. The score is still 2-0-0-0. Honestly, like, it's going to be nil-nil at the end of the year, isn't it? We've had collected maybe 25 bold predictions so far this season.

Two of them are right. Well, well, mate. We'll be back with some more on Wednesday's episode as we preview the Hungarian GP. Let's take our next break. On the other side, we're going to get into the midfield. Welcome back, everyone. Good days for both Gabriel Bortoletto and Arvid Limblud in the Audi and the racing balls, respectively. Bortoletto and Aldi taking advantage of that virtual safety car on lap 20 and ultimately Bortoletto, despite some pressure from Limblin able to hold that position until the flag. Sam, what did you make of that?

Before we get into that, was there an issue with the timing screen where they randomly swapped places and Crofted? Absolutely went off on one. There was, yeah, late on. Yeah, because that was like two and a half seconds. I think suddenly they swapped to swap back again, it was two and a half seconds again. I'm like, that definitely wasn't an overtake at all. Okay, anyway, I thought Borseleto,

whilst he was aided by the VSE, was sublime. I don't think that Audi should have been beating the cars that it did. It is not quick at a straight line. Watching Holkenberg try and go up against the Alps, please, please, slow down. Please, wait. it's great in the corners and that middle sector is really good

and when you're ahead and you're outside of kind of the overtake zone sure, solid. And the VSC did come to help Bartoleto, but the way he holds off and upgraded racing balls for Limbludes was really fantastic. Secures 8th place for

for Audi, which is another great point which is desperately neat because they were so far down the points August, this is another great, was it, four points they picked up here. It starts to build up. It starts to accumulate. If they could do that again in Hungary, which should in theory be, Ben, very good for them.

I can feel a bold prediction brewing. Brewing, the long-term brew. I thought he was fantastic, and I really think he ran quite a quiet race, but a really well-managed, well-delivered Grand Prix, executing nicely on the strategy, was really impressed by him. What did you make, Harry, of the way in which Bortoletto was able to hold off that racing balls that has been the king of the midfield for the last few rounds? Yeah, I think super impressive by Bortoletto.

He's been having a good year, and I know Holkenberg has been like the unluckiest man ever, but he's, he's, maybe not ever, but certainly this year. Maybe slight exaggeration, I'll take it back. You know what, my brother. You go away for two months, actually. You're banned. Yeah, get out. But I think Bortelet has been super impressive this year,

and this result is sort of worthy of the way he's been driving. Like you mentioned, Tamp, it's not quick and a straightforward. line makes a ridiculous noise, but not very quick in a straight line. So to hold off that, the racing ball, I think, was a good effort. And, you know, impressive to end the streak, as he said, racing balls have been dominating that, you know, the back end of the top 10, but the start of that midfield for several races now. So great effort all

around by Bob Wattelso. Yeah, I agree. And sure, they needed the strategy to get this done. I'm fairly convinced without it, he would have been behind Limblud, and maybe somewhat comfortably so. But that That's not how it panned out. And Bortoletto needed to, he needed to manage those tires to the end. I know he had slightly fresher tires than Limblud, but it was only four laps or so. So by the time we were getting to lap 40, there wouldn't have been any difference, really, in the tires.

So it was just on pure pace that he was able to hold him off. Yeah, like you've both said, really, that Audi is good, but really lacking still in a straight line. we saw that Alpine particularly in the final sector, were able to catch up and pass Aldi's at least once in this Grand Prix and even sort of going down the Kemmel Strait, it felt like they were missing something versus their rivals, but they managed it well enough in the middle sector that it didn't come back to hurt them too much.

So, yeah, a lot of respect for what Bortoletto did. Didn't have a great start, as is always the case with Aldi, but still was able to minimize the damage. I think he only dropped one. spot, maybe one or two spots when we've seen it be far worse for them so far this year. Yeah, they dropped back into the F2 field for a couple of laps. They have to work their way back out again. Classic, Audi.

It was interesting to see Sam such a gap between both Bortoleto and Limbluda and their respective teammates. Was it just a case of the other two managed to get stuck behind this Alpine train and that sort of maybe exaggerated the gap? Or was this just a case of those two drivers were more on it versus their teammates? I think it's two separate reasons. We see with fighting on the racetrack, how much time that can lose you.

It happens in every Grand Prix. If you're going side by side, you're trying to get pulled off your line because you're defending from a driver so often, you will drop a few tenths of a second every single lap. Now, if that battle is happening for 10 laps, you might have dropped six or seven seconds at that point, you know, which isn't ideal.

And if that's the case, and then you're comparing that to the fact that Lawson maybe has a not as upgraded car as limb blood and he's stuck in the battling and he's with the Alpins and Holkenberg, that gap continues to widen over time. So it's one of those compounding factors that sat on top of each other really doesn't help. The same can be single Borselaetto. I think his timing on his strategy just works out really well.

It's a really well executed moment for him. Holkenberg didn't get that same luxury, ends up in that pack, ends up being slower because of that situation. And that just means that, again, the race time is compounded. I do think that Portoletto and Limblog were better than their teammates, but I don't think that the time in between them is actually representative of how much of a difference there was between those. If that makes sense, you know how I'm saying it?

Would you agree with that, Harry? Do you think that's the way that it worked out rather than just being a golfing class between teammates here? Yeah, I think so. I think, you know, Holcombberg was on, we're talking about Holcombberg in Botelter, right? Yeah, I think Holcombberg was obviously unlucky with, with qualifying yesterday, but the race just didn't really, didn't really go his way. And obviously, that's obviously made that ridiculous claim.

He's the unluckiest man ever. But he has been unlucky this year. So I think whilst, like I said, Bortoletta has been driving well this year, I think Holcomboke has been too. He's just not had the fortune. Yeah. And we're now starting to see, regardless of which driver is Audi are starting to score points when they've been in scoring positions before and not.

taking advantage of it. We've now had a couple of races in a row where Bortoletto has been able to do so. And you'd imagine just based on how close Bortoletto and Halkenberg usually are at some point, it's going to flip. I just wanted to ask a bit more generically about the Grand Prix. There've been some interesting comments from drivers throughout the course of the weekend. Some of them we might well choose to properly get into outside of a race review. but just off the top of my head we've had Carlos Seine, say, whoever was running these Sims a few years ago, how on earth have we let this happen?

We've had Max Verstappen compared the power of these cars to an F3 car. So not necessarily glowing praise from a couple of the drivers. Do you think the comments are fair, Harry? I think they are. Look, we've spoken a lot about these rules. and whilst we are getting some different and some type of exciting battles, it's still, it's rough, man, to hear, especially at Spa, hear drivers down changing, you know, at the top of the hill or even before Ere Rouge or at the,

through Blanchemon, etc. F1 doesn't need to be, I think the problem is, there are like two camps that have thought, people that like the new version of F1 or they hate it and they think that F1 should be like it was in 2021. Neither is correct, in my view. It should be somewhere in between that. I think we've gone too far on the other way. 2021, they were mighty cars that era of Formula One, but they had their problems and that's why we've ended up where we are. So F1 cars don't need to be the fastest things they've ever been to be exciting.

And we're, yeah, they just need to be a bit faster than they are now because it's painful to watch them be quite so slow. A track like, track like Spar, I mean, Monsa, goodness me. I'm not sure what we're going to do. No one boards all weekend. My boy. Dron cam will be the only camera we get. Bloody drone cam.

Probably the fastest thing on the race track. Yeah, if it's like, slow down, guys. Slow down. Go ahead. Whoa. Whoa. What do you think, son? A lot of people are using the criticism of lap time for these regulations.

I think that is incorrect. I don't mind that we might be three, four seconds slower than previous regulations. That doesn't bother me. We're still by far the fastest form of car sport that there is in the world, right? You stick G3 cars going around here. You see hypercars going around here. We're still faster by many seconds. And you know, you only have to look at a hypercar.

It's like their qualifying pace is slower than the faster. just that time that happens in the race. It's fine. That's fine. Being quick is one thing. It's the fact that these cars are being quick but driven so managed, so half-assed, so slow in the way that the battery has to be driven. I don't want that.

They could be 10 seconds and up slower for all I care. I just want to see the drivers, the 22 best drivers on the planet, thrashing these cars. I want to see them being thrown around a racetrack side by side. And whilst we have pockets, moments, of that happening where, you know, for the first five laps, you might see these battles occur. It's really exciting. We then settle into these real lulls in the midfield of a race where from about lap maybe 10 through maybe to the last 10 laps, it becomes quite boring, quite managed,

quite obvious and expected. And that's not what we're here for. I actually picked up throughout the Grand Prix and the lack of TV direction doesn't help either the fact that we're missing amazing moments when we're just watching two cars driving around two seconds apart from each. other. But I do think changes need to be made. I do think we've gone too far in one direction, and that's unfortunately hurting the sport. But there are some things I also wouldn't put back. I do think there are some changes that have been positive. So whilst I disagree with the overall direction of the regulations, I do think change has to be made. I don't think it's 100% incorrect. I think this, again, is a track that properly exposes the weaknesses that the regulations

still have and might continue to have over the next couple of years. I'm not too sure on that. I'm fairly confident when we get to hungry in a week's time and again in some other races still to come in the autumn and going into the winter, it will be better than what we saw today. But there are still some quite glaring weaknesses. And I'm of the same opinion as you, Sam, that I can deal with the poll at being five seconds slower than last year.

That isn't even specific to these regulations. That will always happen with new regulations where they are trying to strip down force away to ensure that these cars don't become impossible to follow and we get essentially no overtaking. Like, slowing the cars down is important every five years or so. But it's definitely the way in which they're going racing, particularly when there's downshifting through Blanchemont is probably the one for me

where it's just, it's a struggle to watch and to listen to at the moment. And I hope that that is rectified in the, in the not too distant future. But yeah, like I say, I'm pretty sure we'll see a better, better showing of what F1 is when we get to Hungary next week. I'm also pretty sure one of the reasons why we're slowing the cars down each year, because if they get to a certain point, I don't think the drivers are capable of driving them if we get too quick,

just the level of G-force and the physical requirement it just becomes a bit scientifically impossible. So you've got to slow them down just to make them manageable. Well, let's head straight into drive- 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.

So how do you got? I get to start. Two names are good tension for me. I will. I only mention one thing now and I'll bring it up at the end if I'm mentioning, but I'll go for the race winner. Antigani, I think, hang out. A, flawless Grand Prix.

He was set back, of course, by the fact that the VSC didn't come into his favor, but the overtake back for the lead on Lecler was effortless. And it looked like whilst it wasn't the most dominant of victories for him, it looked like it was never going a different direction. Who have you got, Harry? I've gone for Antonelli. Yeah, you can't fault anything he did today. The only reason he lost the leader, Sam said,

it was because of that virtual safety car falling at the wrong time for him. So hard to argue. I'm going to go with, I'm going to go with Bortoletto. Yeah, I think it was close between himself and Antonelli. As mentioned earlier on in the show, I think Antonelli could have got by Lando Norris a little bit quicker. Bortoletto could have had a better start. So both of them,

I don't think I've had a completely flawless Grand Prix. But I've just about gone for Bortoletto in winning that midfield battle where I'm not completely convinced the Audi was deserving of that. On to Worst Driver of the Day. Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worse driver of the day. And this time, Worst driver of the day You suck at driving

And this time, Harry, you have the honours Ocon I mean Can we change the end of the song To guess be It's a man, Or Kong It was marginal, I guess

But with him and Behrman But not ideal race was it And never really recovered Yeah, the safety gutter as well like it wasn't like he fell off the back and they had a safety car to come back around and so slow and the house isn't great because I mean Behrman

was only a few places above but still not great yeah I had a lot on as well three for three I was keeping an eye on the sort of gaps between it really became a battle between the two Williams drivers and the two hash drivers

and the gap from himself to Beerman just grew and grew and grew and I was like you gotta get on it at some point, and then he got overtaken by signs. So it was in a day where Bearman was able to get the better of Alburn and signs. O'Conn wasn't able to beat either of them. And no one had an outright, no one had a stinker today, I don't think. There was no one who was outright, awful, and we'll probably get a one or a two out of ten on power rankings tomorrow, which means it's O'Con on this occasion for me. Fully agree, three for three. O'Cong had some messy moments

at the start of the Grand Prix, but then even when it got rectified under VSC slash safety cars, he was unable to make do with what he had, and Ben was just faster. Oh dear. What about big brain strap? What? It's not even raining out.

What are you talking about? Yeah, and Bob, if you get a chance, wait. What's your big brain strats, Sam? Getting run over by your drive when the light goes green. Ah, yeah, not great. Can I just say, have you know, did you know, what that man was holding. That's why I'm, it's my big brainstrap.

Justice for the blue thing. Right, blue thing he rocks up. Get out of here. Get out of here. He's not employed anymore. He's going to go more for you, blue thing. Do you want, at least I think we can, we know that the blue thing has a function. It just turned up for a long time, didn't it?

Very glad he's. Yeah. It was like a wand that he just waved. I think it's to adjust the front wing. I think so. It didn't happen. But, yeah, not great, Ferrari. Fliping the green.

go and they decide to stand in front of the front wheel. They just don't like him. Run me over. Please. Matthew Lewis is like, again, to clarify, we're glad he's okay. I'm so happy he's okay. I hope the proof they got destroyed in the process,

but I'm so happy he is okay. Yeah, don't flick it to green to let your drive a go when you're not done working on the car. What was your big brain straight, Harry? I'm going to guess it's not the same thing. mine is not the same thing but it is also Ferrari related it's Hamilton annoyed about being left out for whatever strategy that they had him on and then a few laps later they're like yeah we did this

because he got a five second penalty and then him turning into DJ Callag and saying another one another one but I'm like why not telling him tell him what are you not telling him for we didn't get his on board but he did actually go another one and put his finger off the camera on the on the team

Nearly runs off the road. Sorry. Sorry, DJ Khalid. My big brain strap is, and I promise, this will feel like deja vu, but it is a brand new incident. But it's just my favourite thing that it happens seemingly every race now, which is racing balls are together. Second racing balls gets to pit first. Therefore, they come out at the same time, and they nearly kill each other. Like that's just every race now for racing balls.

Got their handbags out, didn't they? Yeah, yeah. We only saw it again on the smaller part of the screen in the, yeah, in the smaller box. But at least one of them had to go straight off the road when Gassley was directly behind. But it's just the same thing happened at Silverstone and at Austria. Yeah. Fun though. It's the actual.

They play on a show. They always do, to be fair. Can I nominate a runner-up for me as well? Oh, go on then. Carlos signs turning into the worst office manager and being like, I didn't approve this front wing change. Rejected. But they did it anyway.

He's like, I didn't approve this. I didn't sign it off. Oh, dear. Right, let's take our final break on the other side. Moment of the Race. Welcome back, everyone. Very shortly, we'll have some Discord submissions, but before we do that, Sam, what was your moment of the race?

I have two. The first one is a very serious one, and it was the battle with Colapinto, Gasly and Lorsing, and that move that Colapinto plants on both of them, when those two are fighting. So you can see, Drew, go around the outside. Where's he come from?

It's just there, there is, Franco's coming through. I loved it, absolutely loved it. Three wide, download calm. We saw it in, basically, I've got a screen recording me. It was about the size of that screen, minutely small. And it was very annoying to watch it such a small screen, but it was a great battle. I had to watch it back on Twitter.

Amazing move. Really brilliant. Loved it. That's what I live for, and we barely got to see it. To play a devil's advocate here, this might have been the one instance where the small box was a good thing

because we had no idea Colopinto was there until he was literally ahead. It's like, surprise, we wouldn't have got that on the main screen. That's true. But I fully agree with you. My moment of the race is admittedly a bit of an obscure one, but it came late on when Peter Bonington over team radio

was reminding Kimmy Antonelli of track limits because that happens every week. And Kimmy's like, well, how many do I have? And you could just imagine Bono at that moment going, it doesn't matter. Just don't do any more. You have the lead. Just don't do any more.

And he's just there, can I get away with one more maybe? Stop collecting them, Kimmy. Come on. They should just always say like lap one. Three. You've already got three. You've got three. Warning.

You have a warning. They really should. But I haven't got the black and white flag yet, right? I've got one more in me. What was your moment of the race, sorry? Sammy, you didn't say your second one, did you? Oh, sorry, yes. I didn't.

The silly one is Faganda and also going to get rid of that car. Have you seen what he does over the line? That's my moment of the race. You go for it. You go for it. I did you, sorry? I caught it just at the end of the broadcast, but I've seen it again on Twitter. After he crosses the line, he does like three burnouts.

Just like, see you later in a car. Go walker! The guy is like dragging that car in the line with a steering wheel like this. It's so good. Just for no reason. I'm surprised he didn't just park it in the forest and then we said, like, I just walk back. I think Lance did that, to be fair. So, yeah.

And the other, I was going to say the other one, and this was more for Sam, actually. Did you see the shot of Los Alampton walking slow, so slowly down the pit lane at the end of the race? But perfectly with the banner of Kimmy Antonelli is as well. winner above him. So break. Yeah. It's like, oh, so sad. That was my car.

I love, I love that transition. And so it's so good. Do you think Mark Stroh is here in like a won't shave till I get points situation? Because he's got a... If there's anything like that, Man United fan, he... United Strz guy. He's got like Gandalf the Grey. Oh, Lord.

Yeah, honestly, he might be doing that. One more for me. I've just been reminding of. this is skycentric so I'm very sorry if you don't watch the sky broadcast when Crofty was talking about how the last time we had a race

on World Cup final day and Mark Weaver won at Silverstone and he started talking about pedestrian and then he was like well yeah actually you'd be quite pregnant over time might it's like Profty why are you doing this the worst Australian accent

ever heard stop it it also wasn't the first time he'd said that in the weekend he also said it I think in FP1 and Karin Chandott was just like, that's pretty tenuous even for you, mate. Worse to that effect.

Just a quick final one with Ferrari. Hamilton asking, did he have the front wing adjustment? And they were like, yeah, we didn't manage it. Yeah. Did he ride it over? Well, we have adjusted the front wing. There's a person in it. You're carrying around the front jack, man.

Oh, dear. Okay, now let's hear from our. Discord, thank you very much to all of you that submitted your moments of the race. It's very much appreciated. Let's start with, and I'm sure we've had this person before, and I'm sure I've probably got it wrong last time. It's either random CAD or random CAD. I'm going to go Random CAD today. Hello, late breaking lot.

This is Random CAD. My moment of the race has got to be Hamilton's radio message there at the end. That just had me laughing about his front wing. Yeah. Chuggest it, guys. No. Why? You rang him over.

Ran him over. No, just, we didn't manage. We didn't manage. We tried. We started to try to manage when we set it to green. Why did you forget on green? You have full control. Oh, dear.

Let's go to Absolute Gem. Hello, late breakers. I am a absolute gem and my moment of the race is realizing we're probably going to hear George Russell's tears during a moment of the race again. Also, crofty,

getting confused between Fernando Alonzo and Lando Norris. Now, I know they sound similar, but one of them is in the midfield and the other one's in Bruges. Do better, Dave. I thought I misheard that. I'm glad I've actually got clarity

that I did hear that correctly. Yeah, and then I love that Brundle was like, oh, whatever. Sort of going to bother correcting, you know, the same thing. Daniel Ologso is overtaking. and Liam Norson for seventh. The lesser spotted Bruges mention

on a late-breaking podcast as well. Big up Bruges. I'm weirdly planning to go to Bruges next year. Bub, Big up Bruges. Visit Fernando. They're still going around, I'm sure. Orlando Norris. I'm not sure which is which anymore.

Thank you very much. Absolute gem, as I think you called yourself there. Let's go to... Romantically, that hurt my ears. Let's go to Butter Beef. Hello. Hope you well. update. I saw pit bull a couple weeks go

and ate a bowl of butter. Anyway, moment on the race was Oscar Piestri's move. No, it's quality overtake that. Okay, bye. I actually have a pet peeve about that overtake. The length and breadth that Crofty went to to try and sell it that happened through Orooos really annoyed me. I know what you mean, yeah. It was done before Orooge started.

Yeah. She ate a bowl of butter. Obviously, at this point, I've decided to just move on. That's not good. That can't be good for you, mate. That answers to the question that I was going to have. Why are you called butter beef now? I'm regularly in the Discord.

I went away to have some food while I was watching the Grand Prix. I thought I'll come back to it. Obviously, a bowl of butter. I came back to it after finishing my lunch. Everyone was just talking about butter. It was very confused. I also want to know whether the pit bull concert

and the eating the butter were separate or combined. I think it's part of the ticket you get. Is it? Wow. Here's your ticket and he's your bowl of butter. Now, we're enjoying the concert. Pitbull requested you inside at once. He's not coming out to you in that bowl of butter.

Dallur pack. It's just beef. Oh, man. Thank you very much, butter beef. Let's go to Nitro Nick next. Nitro Nick here. Moment of the race for me is Lewis is on board when he makes contact with George. And all you see is his wheel turn directly into George.

Oh, spicy take. Voice of a Angel, by the way. I absolutely love that, like,uring it. It was gravelly. Now, this has been manifested into existence. Up next, George Russell's tears. Oh, no. Hey, guys, it's me, the tears of George Russell,

and here we are again, a moment of the races when Lewis, meaning he had Lewis, he took me out, and everybody saw it, right? He took me out purposely, now I got to worry about, absolute gem jab deb

whatever whoa how can you guys know each other get a meta here wild cry I just know each other

all part of the same discord don't break the fourth wall man don't break the fourth wall look it doesn't help when we hear

George Russell is obviously frustrating about the scenario and nothing's mentioned and then about a lap later they go We confirmed George Russell is almost in tears giving this interview.

You're saying, oh, come on. You're not helping the guy. Poor lad. Indeed. Last up today, boogity, boogity, boogity, boogany. Bugety, boogany, boogany. Let's go racing late breakers. My moment of the race.

Absolutely saucy pass by Franco Colopinto over Lawson and Gassley at the same time on the world's smallest split screen for some reason. Why do they do that? Figure it out, F1 TV direction. You are right in every sense of the word there. Yeah, I think that is a spot-on shout from both yourself, Sam, and boogity, boogity, boogity. Well, I think that's going to do it for this Belgian GP race review.

But it's not quite the end of content from the Belgian GP weekend, Sam. We've got power rankings up tomorrow. Indeed, if you think, why can I ever see power rankings? Where is it? It's because you're not part of the city, Patreon city, and to join the links in the description. It does cost a small fee every month, but that goes to really helping the show make it this amazing place

that it genuinely is helps us pick up equipment that makes the show better. We can do things like go to Zanvall, which we're doing next month, which is incredibly exciting. And thank you to all the support that comes from Patreon. And if you want to support the show in the best way you can,

that's the way to go do it. You unlock things like power rankings, which will come out tomorrow where we talk through every single driver ranking. And you get to say as well, the sheet is live, I believe, now already. where you can get involved in the form, do your rankings for the driver,

and you get involved there as well. Join the Discord, of course, if you're going to hear your moment of the race played on the show, which will be next Sunday for the Hungarian Grand Prix, and there's lots of chit-chat going on there as well, including Y beef, ate some butter.

Follow us for social media, late breaking F1, and we will see you, of course, midweek for the preview of the Hungarian GP. In the meantime, I've been Sam Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late.