The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 US GP Race Review

Episode Date: October 26, 2026

Join the LB trio for a rundown of the race at COTA, including Antonelli and Mercedes’ masterclass in dominance and the strategies employed by the chasing pack. Was there anything they could've done to challenge the almost-champ? 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! LEAGUE CODE: C6Y6R4ZUY02Get 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. Welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing today the United States Grand Prix. One, of course, by Kimmy Antonelli. Not quite winning the title with it, but we're getting into mathematical, almost impossibilities for him not to win the 26th Championship. It feels like a bit of a good news, bad news day, Sam, because the bad news is,

obviously we're not now ready to go out into Austin as we usually are at this time of the year. Good news. This is the earliest we've done a USGP review for a few years. I mean, we were saying how weird it was watching the Grand Prix on the television. And every time they went past turn 12, I wept. And it just never got better. It just never felt good. I brought in pizzas, margaritas, you know, Harry was standing up. Every time the cars went past, turned 12. I should have filmed that. 56 times.

His thighs are like, still. Oh, guy, it's not the same. It's not quite the same. But at least we've got an interesting GP to dissect after what happened. Harry, what your thoughts? I think I said this on Bera breaking. You know, I said it might be better that we wouldn't have the post-Austin depression and that we could just be depressed the whole time.

I lied. Take it back. It's worse. This is worse. Wow, Harry was wrong. Mark the date, folks. Those vibes are really through the floor right now. There are no vibes.

No, no, no. We're not doing that. This is a USGP review. The vibes are going to be high, even if we have to fake it till we make it. Sam's starting the, you know, the rodeo, the lasso's there. Get the lasso's going. So the vibes are going to be good for this one, folks.

We've got our moment of the race to hand out later on. We've got all of the midfield to discuss. we've got the driver of the day, worst driver of the day, big brain strategy. Before we get to any of that, let's talk about the race winner and a comfortable race winner, that being Kimmy Antonelli, well over 10 seconds at the flag, even after slowing down in the last couple of corners to fully soak in the victory. A one-stop race where the three drivers behind were all on two-stop, Sam. This felt like a very straightforward performance.

It was a Kimmy Antingley, Mercedes-Beng's Masterclass. It was perfection in a race. It was a work of art, the way that they orchestrated this one-stop. No need to be baited into this two-stop by Red Bull or Ferrari. No need to play silly games. They held firm, kept it within track limits for the most part, which we know is Antigelli's arch nemesis in Formula One and just brought home a sensational dominant victory.

Before he slowed down on the last two corners, I believe the gap was about 15 to 16 seconds clear of second play, Charlercler. He was still putting in personal best, certainly a couple of laps from the end, on those older tyres. And the fact that he finishes over 50 seconds clear of his title rival teammate, George Russell,

is just phenomenal. What a dominant performance we've seen there from the young Italian. And it just feels like it's going to be party time in Mexico in seven days. And he deserves it, because that was just amazing. I did a little bit of research

before we jumped into recording today. And with that, victory, he now clears Jackie Ix, Denny Holm, his teammate, of course, and Daniel Ricardo in race wing throughout his career. He's only 18 months into that career. It's pretty impressive stuff. Yeah, but he's not Jackie Hicks. And that does hold Antonelli back, you know? And no one is Jackie Hicks. I think of the aura has here Jackie Hicks. And who does? Well, exactly. Who does? Harry, what did you make of that performance? Sublime, right? sublime is the is the perfect word for it yeah it didn't didn't look under pressure really once did he

antonelli after that after that start and um you're right uh well you said saman that this wasn't just an antonelli and antonelli when this was a mercedes win as well they didn't crumble strategically under any sort of pressure of trying to go to a two-stop especially when red bull and vastapa called that early um early first stop uh they just stuck to their guns and knew what they needed to do. And they ran the quickest, I know it's a dumb thing to say, sounds dumb, but they ran the quickest race out there today, right? They just did the one stop. They had the right tires on at the right time. And it was a lights to flag victory, wasn't it? So, yeah, faultless from the pair of them and, you know, Antenelli and Mercedes and a reminder why

he is on the verge of clinching this championship. Honestly, Anconelli having cracked track limits might mean we won't get another champion until 2050. Like he's, now he might be like end boss like done deal now. No one's beating him. The irony of it being of this track, then. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, the ultimate track limits track. It's like trap limits criminal versus trap limits end boss.

Final boss, yeah. A rocking hard place, personified and Antigali has somehow come out on top. It's, yeah, the man like walking into this race has like 10 strengths and one weakness and he's gone actually, you know what, that week? doesn't matter anymore. I've solved that as well. Not saying it won't come back to bite him at some point at other tracks. But he was on that from the start. And the only track limits violation he did get was that instance where he had one of the Williams in front of him. And that, I don't think that was a true that guy. That guy. Yeah. I don't think that was an instance where he was just pushing too much

and he's gone a little bit white. That was related to another driver. So Antonelli was brilliant. I felt this race was just a shining example of this season. It's just everyone's trying to figure out one stop versus two stop, trying to overtake each other. A lot of action like back from second and you've got Lando Norris trying to go like. There was an entertaining battle to be had with Antonelli just 15 seconds out front, not bothered with anything else around him. That's how you can tell when a driver's had a very good day when you don't see him a great deal. everything went perfectly. The first lap, brilliant for Antonelli.

Lecler getting in front of Vastappen was great. No fret at all because he's able to get out a couple of seconds in front and dictate the pace from there. And this is a Grand Prix, I think, where Ferrari in particular, if they were in the position that Antonelli was in, then not often. If they were in the position that Antonelli was in, Oh, Vestappen's come into the pits, 13 laps into this.

Probably cover it off. Or if it's McLaren, it's, It's probably like, I don't know, ongoing dialogue between, you know, between engineer and driver for like five laps trying to work out if they should pit or not. To what both of you have said, Mercedes just unfazed. It's just this is the fastest way to go racing. We've got the best combination of driver and team. We'll let that play out. And we have enough confidence that's going to get us to win.

And it absolutely did. A bit of an unsung hero for me, which it does get much credit deservedly so. But I think Bono is an absolute maestro in this. the way that he's speaking to Antingelli every lap, the way he's coaching him through the track limits of where to back off, where to push, the strategic overview of what's going on. The guy's about to pick up another world title, right?

He's done Schumacher, he's then coach Hamilton. Now he's in the new era of Antigella, who might be the next big thing in Formula One for another two, three decades to come. He's just got this kind of the Midas touch when it comes to being a race engineer. He just knows how to work with these top-tier talents. And he's done it again this season.

This race, I think, really demonstrated just what he could do where it comes to harnessing that top tier talent on the track. There's probably an entirely separate topic right on race engineers, but I think it's a really valid point about Bono and the success behind him. But also today with Vestappen, who's doing his first race without GP, now I'm not saying that was the cause of any Vastappan issues, but just didn't seem quite as settled, did it, today, between him and his new engineer.

And there's a lot in that. And I think it's a very valid point to bring up with Bono. He's doing a lot behind the scenes with young Antonelli. I think you're right, though, across the board, right? Because you talk about McClare and Ben, you brought them up that they waffle along forever. The same was happening with Norris today. They kept going, would you like to come in? Should we do it?

And Norris is like, I don't know. I don't care. Just like making sure it's a lot of soft, whatever it's going to be. That's farcical. Hajar is confusing about being on the hard tire, shouting, oh, what? What are we doing over the radio? Hamilton is confused about what that time he needs to be doing. And then suddenly is told to do a 138-5.

The Claire is trying to get on with the job with so regularly seen throughout this season that communication is so poor on these top levels and yet, Bono Antigelli, they're only 18 months ago, they've solved it. It's something about Bono that's not spoken about enough is just how well he's adapted because, sure, you can say Hamilton's great at F1, clearly Antonelli's great at F1 as well.

They're like 21 years apart, and at very different points in their career and they've needed a different approach and Bono's done that superbly. But it's weird to think about Bono that he's had like three excellent drivers that he's managed and like they're born in the 1960s,

the 1980s and the 2000s. Like they're so Schumacher, Hamilton and Antonelli, obviously. They're just, they're nowhere near each other in terms of a generation. And yet he's so successful anyway. In terms of LeClaire

and Hamilton and Vestap, and should we start with the Ferrari duo who finished second and fourth here. Harry, it felt like maybe would have been second and third, if not for that virtual safety car? I think undoubtedly with the gap that Hamilton had to Verstappen at the end, it was what a second when they crossed the line. So I think that was probably inevitable

and Verstappen was saved by that VSC. One of those again for Ferrari where they started a little higher up. I don't know. I think, I don't, I think Antonelli may well have still won this race, but with the Claire in particular. What if he holds second on the first lap? Maybe if he can stay in front of the staff, but I don't know, because he, he, the pace between everyone on that first, first stint, sorry, was very similar. Like there were gap, the gaps formed and then they just didn't really budge at all. Two and a half seconds, two and a half seconds.

Yeah, and whether that was on purpose or not, I don't know, but either way, had he stayed in front of. of Vastappen, and stadium P2, he would have been two and a half seconds closer than he was. So, yeah, I don't know whether he would have been able to win,

but just given how well, I think Ferrari today executed their strategy better than Red Bull did with Vastappan, and that is rare. I think they also went for the same strategy

in terms of two-stop. I think the tyres they used were the better choices. So I don't quite remember what they had left between them, but it was certainly the faster option going on the hard at the end as well.

So yeah, I mean, Ferrari, again, look where they were at the end of Friday versus where they finished. They'll be disappointed, but certainly versus where they were at the end of yesterday, I think they can be happy with how that race is played out. What did you make of the Ferraris today, Sam?

They confused me, shock, but which they do every Grand Prix. Confused themselves, usually. I mean, yeah. They play qualifying, welling of six, they didn't use the medium. And it felt like the medium and hard tire

actually the better race tire, and yet they were baiting to starting on the soft tire. And actually, you saw from the way that Anthony Nelly was running on that medium throughout, we saw the way that Ferrari's pace and then they were much more preferred for their racing style was to be on that slightly harder compound that you can lean on a little more.

So that was a frustrating mistake. And it felt like actually if they didn't bother touching the soft, but ran the same strategy with two sets of mediums and a hard, they might have been slightly further down the road, potentially. The other thing, I'm going to get some stick for this, so apologies if you're a Lewis Hamilton fan. Yes, he would have caught Max Verstappen had the VSE not come out, but he didn't help himself because that man was 10 seconds behind at one point

that battle that was going on with LeCler, Bastappen and Norris. And he had to be kind of given the go-ahead by his engineer to kind of start hitting a certain lap time to really catch up with it. And the whole Grand Prix, he was three or four tenths away from the clerk, every lap, and the gap just grew and it grew and it grew. not to a point where it was embarrassing, not to a point where it was a proper worry, but if you just got his act together on those hard ties a little faster, I think he could have been fighting with a lap to go.

Even with the VSC, I do think there was something there. So the VSE has stopped him, but I do also think he's made the job a lot more difficult for himself because he wasn't putting in the lap times that the Clare was doing earlier along in the stink. I would agree with that. I think this could and probably should have been a two-three regardless of that virtual safety car. I it's so frustrating with Ferrari because I can't even sit here and say man Ferrari really messed up that strategy today. They didn't. I think they pretty much nailed it in terms of sure they started on a different tire to Antonelli. Bostappan was kind of the early threat to Antonelli and he goes in really early for his first stop and obviously goes back out onto the soft tires. I think Ferrari would then correct to go, all right, our middle.

stint's going to be on the medium tire. That's going to give us a bit more flexibility towards the end of the Grand Prix. And that's kind of what we saw with Vastappen is that those two soft stints meant that his third stint was going to be quite a bit longer. And they played it very well. Again, with Vastappan's second stop, it was quite a slow one, wasn't? It was about 3.7 seconds or something like that. And I feel like Ferrari could have easily gone, this is a bit of a 50-50. Let's get Lecler into the next in next lap. If we do a 2.5. second stop, we might just beat him out. But instead, they were actually calm and went, you know what, we're just going to create a bit of an offset here. We're going to go another eight or nine laps,

I think it was, and we're going to have fresher tires for this, for this third stint. And that was the right play. I think they executed it really well. The only thing they're missing, as is always the case with Ferrari, a bit more in a straight line. It was so evident today, wasn't it? Yeah. It was so evident the lack of pace they had in the straight line. They just struggled to get past people around them. I thought it was particularly evident when Vastappan overtook Russell. And it was just arrive on the scene, bang, overtake, done. And Lecler, it was still fairly easy, but it just took him a little bit longer.

It wasn't quite as easy. Had to make his overtake not into a slow corner, but he had to get more creative sort of coming out of that corner. And it was just telling, I agree. Like the straight line speed is just not quite there. And I think if it was, he'd have been a threat for Antonelli in this one. Yeah. Final thing all the round before we, I think, run to that break, Ben, is if you exclude

Antigelli from this, I thought the tyre mix was really great. We saw all three compounds used. All the top teams were trying something a bit different. And it culminating a fight between the top three or four places, again, excluding Antingelli, right at the end of the race. And that's exactly what we want from these tyres is to have a 56-lac Grand Prix, where in the last three laps, it could be anyone. standing on the podium

outside in those top teams. I love that. It's probably part of the reason why I might have enjoyed this a bit more than the average person enjoyed this one because there was the element of tire strategy. Also, this felt like a proper driver's race. Like the three drivers that we saw on the podium

at the end, you could just quite confidently say they were the three best drivers on the day and they elevated their car and their performance to finish there. I don't mean this. in any way disrespectful to Antenelli. It's actually a compliment to what he's doing now,

but beginning of the season, when he won five in a row, a lot of those you could say, Mercedes are the fastest car here. Sure, he's done enough to beat his teammate, and that deserves respect, but Mercedes quite obviously the fastest. I don't think we're there anymore. I think we're just at a point now

where Antonelli, the Claren and Vestappan all today just showed they were the best drivers within their respective teams, and that was enough to get them all on the podium. And I enjoyed that about this one. I brought up the stat in my first bit of this segment, but if Antigani any wings in Mexico, he'll equal Charles Clare's winning record.

Yeah. It's good batting it. No, it's not. To give you a quick answer. Yeah, pretty horrific. It's painful for him. So I'm just throwing out stats here so we can get another reel and just hope we'd reel in all these drivers to like it.

Why to answer, Ellie? I'd have to let a Denny hole might come in a like one. Danny! You want to come in, get NASCAR off board, I don't care what's going on. Denny Holby died in the early 1990s. Man, I'm really pushing for him. Any other series want to get involved? He heard there was a banger wheel coming from the Lake Breaking Bruns.

We got one about Fangio somewhere in the locker. He's only 16 wings away from Fangio. Did you hear that? Did you hear that, Fangio? Fangio will wait until 2028. That's when he thinks he'll be required for his like of an instance. Can't wait for the re-post from Fangio. Oh, I hope you're doing well, Juan Manuel.

Should we take a quick break? On the other side, we'll get into some of the other fights out front. Welcome back, everyone. Harry, I realized that we spoke a bit more about Ferrari maybe than Vastappan and Red Bull in that last segment. Is there anything that you'd like to mention when it comes to Vastappan and Red Bull in terms of the strategy or in terms of obviously going for another third consecutive win. Didn't feel like the pace was not there versus the other two Grand Prix, but it wasn't as plain sailing as Malaysia or Singapore was, obviously. It wasn't, no. And I think race-based, they will be disappointed Red Bull from today. Obviously, they didn't convert their two, three. And

I think part of that is the car itself. I just don't think it had the raw pace. Certainly, well, definitely versus Antonelli and certainly versus the. Ferraris too. But strategy-wise, just, I don't know, I don't blame them for what they did with Verstappen. I think they had, like I said earlier on, it was sort of stalemate in that first stint. And they, you know, it was inevitable the rebel were going to be one to pull the trigger

because that's just what they do. So I don't blame them for that. I'm just, yeah, questioning the choice of, you know, putting Verstappen on another set of softs, which clearly didn't really have any advantage over the medium that Antenelli had started. on. And then after that at the end, going on the medium with Vastappen, having just heard a team

radio to Hadjar who'd been put on the hards. And they said, we think this is a better race tire. Again, maybe this is versus, you know, new tire versus used tire for Vastapen. But I just don't think they played the right, the right tires. They have the right strategy, but the wrong tires on the car. But either way, I just don't think the Red Bull had the pace in it today. I think that was evident with both drivers falling back. back.

So they'll leave disappointed. I think especially, you know, versus where they weren't qualifying. I think after qualifying, they probably, for Stapin probably felt, you know, that was probably a worldly lap from Antonelli, and I can probably do this in the race still. But I think, you know, as soon as he got regained that second place from Declare, but couldn't do anything about Antonelli ahead,

just kind of done from there. Do you think that Red Bull, in terms of the tire strategy part of this, Were they caught out at all in that first stint where the bulk of the field were on the soft tires, but there were some medium runners, certainly Antonelli out front, but also the two McLaren's and George Russell. And those three drivers in particular, whilst they weren't falling off the back of that fight, they weren't showing a lot on that medium compound. Do you think they were maybe misled by actually those drivers weren't quite as on it, but maybe they were thinking it was the tyres instead?

I mean maybe it was such a tough they'd had barely any of the race when they'd made that cool right they had what it was like 14 15 probably 15 so early in the race to come in that there's not a lot to go off and I think they just did it for the fact that they were in a stalemate and they didn't have any tire advantage with this soft versus versus the medium so I think yeah maybe they were looking at those on the medium thinking they could they could do something different here but I think once the Steppen came back out on the fresh softs and yes whilst he was catching Antonelli. Antonoli's pace on that medium tie was just blistering

for the whole of his stint. So I think from there and then they knew it was going to be an uphill battle. Sam, you were relatively confident about Red Bull's fortunes going into this one. Are you surprised that they weren't a bit more competitive than what they were? Yeah, especially in the hands of the Stappen. It was clear that the car wasn't at its full power. that we'd seen over the last couple of Grand Prix. We saw with both drivers

that they were having some kind of technical issue. We saw Hajar come up in the pits. Obviously, he sounded quite distressed over the radio about being stuck in a certain mode that meant he was lacking power, Piasri right in the back of him at that point. Verstappen comes over the radio says that he's struggling with upshifts coming out of the low traction zone

in the slower corners, which is interesting to show that the car wasn't comfortable again. Of course, Forstappen is working on this new relationship that he's got at the moment as well, his new engine here, which again can cause a lot of friction and can cause some difficulties. the message that came back to him from, I can't hear you, I can't hear you?

Can he not hear him? Or is he just fed up of hearing him talk? I don't know. After Singapore, he's like, I actually quite like this. I quite enjoying not being spoken to for a while. Yeah, it just didn't feel like it was coming together. And you know what? This is a surprising downbeat for Red Bull

after what's being a real turn of form. Max Verstappenna now stands next to Kimmy Antingelli is the driver with most podiums throughout this season. he's got more than George Russell, more than both Ferrari drivers, more than both McLaren drivers. It's only Anthony Ellie who stands above him. So it shows you that from the start of this season, where they could barely be an Alpine in Japan, that for Stappling a rebel, they've done a brilliant job of really pushing that car and building that car and that team to much success. And that's why I felt so sure that they could bring a real challenge.

And at the start of this race, when they were on the front row, you think, okay, here we go. Stappan probably can do something here, and it just doesn't work. When he gets in front of the Clarkega, you think, okay, he's regale. means that energy. We're going to see him hunt down and Tengeli now. He doesn't. So then he pits. It goes into the soft tie, which is questionable, as you both rightly said. And then the gap doesn't close again. And it just felt like every

time that Red Bulls usually do something that would often pay off for them here, it just wasn't paying off for them. So I think it's unfortunate. I think they try to do a lot of clever things and nine times out of ten, I would reward them and I will praise them for doing something out of the box. It's just to work here.

It did. And I feel like, if Red Bull had settled for second, he would have finished second. Because he was the nearest challenger to Antonelli early on, and he's clearly going very aggressive with the strategy to come in as early as he did and obviously stay on the soft compound tire.

I think if, and I'm not saying they should have done this, I think it was right to go for the race win because why not? I mean, both championships are over. Just go for it. But if they had just gone, okay, our objective here is to beat LeClaire

and they worked the strategy that way, I think they might have just had enough to do it. But instead, they go aggressive and and the clerk kind of, and Ferrari kind of take advantage of that. I don't think it's overly disappointing. Sure, after two race wins in a row, it's always going to feel like a bit of a letdown spot. But I feel like if you'd have given them this a month ago, they'd have gone, oh, okay, that's a pretty solid result. We're kind of in the mix in terms of that race win, at least fighting in amongst the top three. That's not too bad. I still think. there's more positive than negative from Red Bull's side over the last few Grand Prix,

even if this one isn't one of their absolute best. I was reminded the other day of the clip from Suzuki where Vestappen was battling at Gassley and losing. They've disappointed from today, but they've come a long way since the first part of this year. Yeah, and even from the middle of the season as well. Like we had that stretch around Austria and Silverstone where the car was trying to kill Vestappen. Like, it's better than that as well.

As a unit, they're better. Like, Hatchar even had some time out with his injury and Lors had to step in. He's come back in. He's qualified third. He's finished in the top five. Like, overall, this is a really, sorry, top six. This is a really positive turnaround as a team for Red Bull. They're not quite the top step.

But it's looking really good for them. Let's move on to McLaren. They finished this one, fifth and seventh, Norris and Piastri, respectively. Let's start with kind of Norris's race, Harry. It felt like they were trying to play a bit of a gamble in terms of leaving him out there to just see what positions he could hold on to. Ultimately, fifth place is maybe where they were expecting to finish

if they had taken the pit stop anyway. Did you like the idea from McLaren or not? Yeah, I like this. I know we criticise them for waffling on and this was part of a waffley message from them. But when his engineer was just like, look, We're in P2. It might not work.

It might not work. It doesn't matter. So we're just going to stick it out. And fair play. I think it was worth a shot. And Norris made that happen with, you know, the pace he showed on those tires. Obviously, they fell off towards the end. He ends up in P5 anyway.

But worth a shot and had a safety car come out, you know, towards the end of the race. Whilst he was still in that position, you know, it could have looked like a stroke of a few laps after Hamilton past him, right? that that VSC came out for BOTAS. It was maybe five laps different. I mean, when they were 40 laps into this thing, and there's still both Cadillacs and Bofast and Martin's going, it's not a bad strategy to think one of them's going to retire.

Start flipping a coin. Hang or tails for one of them's going. Got to call at some point. Yeah, so I think it was worth to shout with him. He was clearly and comfortably faster than Piastri today. Who didn't? I know he's horizontal at the best of times, but he just like sounds so.

one bothered about this at the moment. Not interested. Maybe he should be bothers now. I agree. But, you know, the McLean car is clearly difficult and, and yeah, it's not got the pace of the Red Bull and Ferrari and one Mercedes around it, at least in this race. So, yeah, I think Norris did a good race overall. It was worth a shout, didn't work out, but with the pace of that car, it was,

it was pretty good overall. When it comes to Piastrian, I know he doesn't typically go well at this circuit anyway. And I think I've probably made this point earlier on in the year when it comes to these regulations. And if you were to ask the question, who out of all the drivers hates these regulations the most? I feel like the most common answer would probably be for Stappen.

Low key, it's Piastri. I think he detests these regulations. I know they don't suit him. but for a very horizontal guy, whenever he's spoken about it this year, you can tell there is just something that he's not quite saying where he doesn't like this.

And it's not going well for, I mean, it was a big gap between himself and Lando Norris, right, Sam? It was massive. The best thing he did all day was keep George Russell behind him at the end of that final stint. I think he just wants to torch Cota

at this point. I think he absolutely despises the circuit of the Americas. We talk about bogey tracks for some drivers. You have to kind of break the back of a race to really kind of get a hold of it. And the staff had that with Singapore for a while. You know, there are certain top drivers that just can't seem to be successful.

I mean, it looks like Piastri's is Cota. But it's not just like it's near misses. He's woeful around here. He was so far away from Norris. Whilst I think he was a bit of a grouch guy, Landon, Norris. I thought he had a really good Grand Prix. I thought the McLaren was off the play's journey from the other top three cars. And I think the fact that he beat Hajar and wasn't miles away.

from the likes of Hamilton of a staffing in front of him. He thought for longer than I thought he was going to. I thought it was a solid performance. I really thought it was solid. Piazsche was just nowhere to be seeing. And unless I've missed something that he's got a problem that I'm unaware of, the pace just wasn't there. And that arguably is the worst thing that can happen to a top driver.

I feel like with Lando Norris, fifth place might have been where he was heading anyway, regardless of where McLaren qualified or how his race had gone. But I would at least ask the question about his defensive work against Vastappen was obviously very impressive. And I think Lecler emerging on the scene and almost prompting Vostappen to get on with it might not have helped Norris in the long run. And then we see Lecler get by Norris where he flat spots one of the tires.

Without that flat spot, does he hold on to the position ahead of Lewis Hamilton? I think probably no, but I think he would have been able to fight a lot more. Because those tires fell off a cliff as soon as happened. Why is my man being so stubborn about a flat spot, by the way? Like I get that he's the one driving the car so we can feel it But he's just like acting like a bit of a petulant child Over the radio for that entire Grand Prix Yeah

I've got a flat spot Don't want the mediums, want the softs Don't like you anymore You're not my friend That's what it feels like Yeah I agree I think he had a pretty good Grand Prix

Even with dropping a few spots Towards the end About what McLaren can do at the moment I'm one race that kind of confused me Harry and I guess it was probably related to the issue that he had coming out of the pits. Hadjar in that first stint seemed pretty on it versus everyone around him. And then he goes on to the hard tires, has this issue.

And suddenly he's falling very far back from the cars in front. Yeah, I do wonder whether Hadjar's performance of the hard tires is what then leads Red Bull to put the Staple on the mediums in the end, which I don't think was the right call. But he was nowhere, hated them, hated them for the moment he was given them. and didn't want them ever again. Yeah, I know he was having those powers, powers, those issues with the power as soon as he came out, the pits. But he looked like the car had no grip on those,

on those hard tires, at least initially. But yeah, the pace from him, which, as you say, looked pretty good. And, you know, in that first initially. And he did quite a good job to go so long as the race on the softs as well. Yeah, that pace seemed to, to disappear since he put the hard tires. He'll be disappointed with how this one played out for sure

and will be scratching his head. But I think, like I said, I just don't think that Red Bull performed well in Vastrim today. It kind of confused me because this isn't the first time where the heart of the tire is the worst Red Bull gets. That's kind of been a theme of 2026. And I felt that was the case with Hadjar, even with some of those engine issues as well. I was kind of keeping an eye, Sam, on the time between himself and Lando Norris. Because after he'd kind of got clear of Piastri, because that was close for a few laps,

got clear of Piastri. And I was sort of monitoring the gap between himself and Norris because he had come into the pits. I think about eight laps after Norris had, thinking the new attires, he's going to start to catch him. It was the other way around. Norris was just extending the advantage. Yeah, I also, again, just want a compliment on Norris there. I, whilst I think there were some issues with the car for Hajjah, I wonder if they never fully sorted out these kind of little gremlings

that they had with the engine after that pit stop. It sounded pretty severe. And Hajar, we know, he's got a lot of raw talent. He's quite easy to startle, you know. He's kind of quite easy to make jump. And if you kind of get him out of his groove a little bit, sometimes it feels like he can't get back into that rhythm. Paul's away from Piastri, who we know was by far the slower of the two McLaren

drivers, unfortunately. I just think Norris was really, really strong. And he was the difference maker. He was able to keep the gap to Hagell and then extend it because at one point he's catching Hamilton for quite a significant amount of time before Hamilton has his second stop. So just think Norris had a really good stink on those hard tyres and unfortunately tried to run them a little bit too long

to really get anything proper out of the Grand Prix. Of course we know one of the questions coming into this weekend was could Kimmy Antonelli wrap up the championship? And the answer was a lot's going to have to go his way in order to do that. Antonelli did his part. He won the Grand Prix. but Hamilton and I'm going to talk about George Russell here very nearly did their part to give him the title as well.

George Russell would have had to have finished a position worse, but Harry, he's over 50 seconds away from his teammate here. Proper stinky from George Russell. There's been some not great races this year from him. This one might be the worst. I think it might be. Horrendous. I just, no pace.

And I am, how he's not got past Piastri. Like, I don't understand it. And I know, you know, overtaken can be tough and they were on similar, you know, similar tires. But the car he's in has, is winning the race,

slash has won the race. And he couldn't get past Piastri, who, as we said, that was not good around here either in a car, in a McLaren that, you know, that isn't best suited to this track, just heads dropped. just like end it for him now please Kimmy

like get this championship done one wrapped it up and then let George forget about it and try again next year because he's just not he's just not there is he? Yeah he's not that like that gap between himself and Antonelli is is startling and I don't know I think maybe the worst thing about this Sam is we know that he had a penalty as a result of the first lap between himself and the McLaren

and we'll get into whether we think that was a worthwhile, a worthy penalty or not. I think if he doesn't get that penalty, he doesn't finish eighth. He finishes seventh. I don't actually think he beats anyone else if that penalty isn't there. I completely agree. Russell doesn't go well here.

If you include all the times of his race, including with Williams, I mean, it's a tough group to look at, but it's fair. He's never had a podium here. And he's never finished better than fifth place. historically, right? So it shows you that he's struggled around here. And the fact that Antigali's rocked up on the second time of asking and picked up pole position and then a Grand Prix victory

shows you that the car he's driving is capable. But he's just, he's screwing it up in qualifying, wait four tenths off the pace from your team mate, not good enough. But then making the mistake in the first lap, being caught up in traffic, not being able to get past Piastri who struggles so much around here as well. It's just mistake after mistake after mistake. And that will be fine if it was paired with electric raw pace where he's able to kind of mitigate that. And that's almost what we've seen from Anthony Elliott at some points, right? We've seen not perfect, but the speed is so intense that he's able to make up for not a perfect raw brie.

Russell has just got both things in the negative right now. Hegg's dropped, as you mentioned, the pace isn't there, and he's making silly mistakes. It's just game over. It's now just a matter of playing the clock. Time will run out and it'll be game over. Right in saying this year that George Russell doesn't have a win on a non-term. on the street circuit. I know Canada's kind of 50-50, right? But like... It's counting as one, I suppose. It's kind of a hybrid between the two. And then you've got

Melbourne and you've got Baku. He's got four, hasn't he? Where else did you win? No, he won Austria. He does have one. Yes. Yes. Oh, yeah, of course. Any country that starts in A. There you go. That's how he wings them. If only those, if only America was in the United States, right? Only those states were disunited. As I was really, yes, America, the continent instead. He does not respect the unitedness of those states. He only respects the American continents. Disconnected. We don't want them united. Come on.

The penalty for George Russell, Harry, was it a fair one? No. I am quite shocked with this penalty for Russell here. given Okay, firstly, I'm shocked at how quickly they picked this one up and how it took them 17 laps to pick up Bairman's murder attempt on Pierre Gassel.

What are they doing in between the two of these? Have they all left for some, like, for some ribs? They were like, oh, penalty, let's go get some, yeah, get some beef. That's some brisketing. British bite. Oh, wait, no, that doesn't work. That doesn't work either. No, that doesn't work.

I, um, I'm confused about this one. given what we've seen on lap one this year. They've, they've, I just read the, the, uh, the steward's nose on this.

They're saying that, you know, he was defending from Piastri. And going off the track, meant he gained an advantage from defending from Piastri. I'm like, it was like, he was like,

he was like, he was also trying to attack at the same time. I'm like, I'm not sure you can call this one a viable defense. And it gained him an advantage. So I think, I think they put, 12 and 13 together as one incident

because obviously they had contacts, right? But this is what I mean. I would understand more the penalty for the contact, but they've said it all about the going off track and gaining a lasting advantage. I'm like, that's not the bad part of this. I think they've got all confused.

They're drunk or beef brisket. Understandable. I've been there. I have been there. It's a heavily feeling. Those margarita strong. But you can't be held responsible for what you do. You have the brisket. I thought this was harsh. I understand, I suppose, if you look at the rules, but I wouldn't have given this myself.

I thought it was a penalty for the thing that the FIA didn't say. Didn't penalise. Yeah. I thought turn 12 was a penalty. I thought turn 11 wasn't. I am certain that he is where he is on the track as a result of trying to attack the car ahead. I don't think he's defending.

And you can say, well, intentionally or not intentionally, he ended up defending from the McLaren, sure. But I, this is the sort of thing we see quite frequently, and it's barely ever picked up, let alone investigated and then penalised. But I would have given him a penalty for turn 12. So I guess the end result is maybe okay, but, you know. Sure.

The only thing I can say is that it didn't really affect his Grand Prix because he was crap anyway. No, not really. Again, I think he would have beaten Piastri, but I think that's about it. shall we review our bold prediction see if we got anything right Harry did you get something right

no no I did not I said that both Aston Martin's a score of point oh yeah you're close to that one my one was that there would be contact between the Ferraris and all he once Rundle tried to sell it for it

he gave it a good go he went up with a tenor Martin was like I could do this for you Ben is just the Ben Hockey Bowl prediction hotline I'm an honourable man because even if they had some contact, Hey, if they had some contact into term one, I wouldn't have called that.

In that, like, if it had been a brush, I wouldn't have been trying to say that was a bold prediction correct. So Martin Brundle, despite his efforts, wasn't going to get me anything anyway. But, yeah, they were, I think they just said beforehand in the team, you know, meeting ahead of time, should we just get really close at turn one just to make Ben feel like he might get this right?

And then go, psych. That's just your life, though, it comes to bold predictions. Pretty much. That's why I think it's true. You just hit the post every time of asking. Terrible striker. Mine's got to the bar every time, mate. I wouldn't worry.

Can you save us some? No, because I sent Mercedes with me in the top four. They won, so that's gone well. George Russell gave a good go. George Russell got the memo. Yeah. He went, okay, I will be slow today. And Scania was like, psych.

I've got a championship to win. Yeah, so zero plus zero plus zero. That is zero bold predictions correct. Don't worry. We've got another race very soon to try and get some points. That's the Mexican Grand Prix in seven days' time. We go again. We go again.

And we're going to take a quick break. On the other side, we'll get into the midfield action and give out our driver of the day, worst driver of the day, and our big brain strategy award. Welcome back, everyone. Let's chat the midfield, Sam. I mean, the top eight drivers, all scoring points today with no retirement, meant there weren't many opportunities for teams like racing balls and Alpine.

But those two teams have at least scored something. Lawson was ninth leading the midfield and Gasly P10. They're like a fairly standard day for both of them. Lawson did what Lawson does at the moment. And he just drove away and led the best of the rest. He's kind of where you've got F1 and F1.5. He's kind of like F1.3 at the moment. Like he seems to just be sat so comfy in the middle.

Where Gassely had that position locked down at the start of the season, Lawson seems to have it now. Then he was going to have a challenge. Gassley, on the other hand, it wasn't as smooth sailing. He was in the wars a little bit. Ollie Beerman, of course. He had a big of a tank slapper,

maybe, to quote David Kutagg with him early on in the session. Had to make a couple of overtakes, got challenged a little bit by the horse drivers. eventually finds his way back to P-Teng. It's a lot of work for one point. And that does feel like Pierre gas his life at the moment. Yeah. Well, at least he's now got the same amount of points

as he had covered out of Silverstone. That's like, I'm a real, Pierre. Get on it, son. Did you hear... He was speaking about how much Formula One has grown, actually, before the Grand Prix, about the first time he came to America. And he was like, someone was asking,

well, what do you do? I'm a race car driver. I'm a reserve driver. for Formula One and had no idea what he was doing and he then goes I'm a NASCAR driver

he's had to lie might as well with so many of them who would be the best NASCAR driver on the grid Kevin Magnuson even though he's not there

it's still Kevin Maccas weirdly that wasn't on the schedule today who's the best NASCAR driver in F1 but yeah what did you make

of the midfield battles Harry I think Lawson and Gasley running up the top 10 is just like the side you know the story of this year for that midfield it's those two drivers right

who have been the best yeah Lawson converted what was it well did he finish the way he started in the end or was he yeah yeah finished it's anyway he started I think yeah did as much as he could

couldn't really ask for too much more he was only 20 or maybe is it 30 seconds behind Russell towards the end of that race Now, he was closer to Russell than Russell was to his own teammate. So that itself is a compliment to Liam Lawson, but also a devastating critique of George Russell's race.

Yeah, both these drivers were just got the job done. You can't really ask for much more from the pair of them. And as you said, Sam, Gassley did have to survive the murder attempt from Holly Berman at the start as well. Yeah, I think there were a couple of solid-looking drives. drivers in the midfield as well, but based on various things such as Holkenberg's bad start, Bortoleto starting from the back, Limbludd having a penalty, Colopinto having a penalty, they all kind of collectively took themselves out of contention to the point where

Gassley and Lawson could kind of just go about their races they liked. Lawson didn't have to be one of the first to pit, for example. He went 25 laps on the softs, which meant he could do a very comfortable one-stop. Gassley was the lap before that, so lap 24. Whereas there were other drivers who were coming in a bit earlier, they weren't under threat. So they were able to, annoyingly for them, secure themselves two and one point. I feel like they deserve more for what they did.

Further back in the midfield, Harry, wanted to get your thoughts on Fernando Alonzo and the Honda engine, just not quite being there, meaning a lot of his overtakes were very creative. he sent that one on Albon from Dallas that's where he started it from yeah it's yeah it's paperboard sorry I actually just laughed because I just saw a tweet

come up obviously he had contact from Albon at the start of the race which took out his barge board and he said Albon forgot there was a curve there but we have to improve and start further up because of the back of the grid the quality of the drivers is very low at the moment This is the man who thinks the Lansstroll's a future world champion.

Well, I mean, he got beaten by Lantzor today, so maybe he is. Still confused about the second stop front on. I don't, yeah. No. Make him go so far into the race on soft. So they'd be like, now, you two stop and actually, lull, psych. Also, watching half that car flapping around and I built Bargemore, and he's still overtaking those Williams because they're so bad in the corners.

It's horrific. Yeah, that's not. That in itself is pretty bad for the Williams drivers. Yeah, I just made Alonso do all that he can to try and get past cars that are quick and then him in a straight line. I mean, I audibly gasped when he sent it on that Williams. I was like, oh my God. Not this will mean anything to about four people,

but it was reminiscent of DJ Marshall. We can't do DJ like that. He was in the hospitality. week. He was in the new building. Before it was there. Yeah, fair enough. He was actually on the flag.

Yeah, it was hilarious, but it actually had to try. You had to try something. It's actually fun to what, I mean, I know Alonzo and Aston Martin themselves would much rather just have a better Honda engine. It does make it very entertaining

with how creative they have to be to like come up with, well, I'm going to have to either come from Dallas to make an overtake or I'm going to have to try the stadium section rather than turn 11 as nearly everyone else did. It begs for some interesting viewing and also as well, Sam highlights just how bad that Williams is.

It's quite similar to, I don't know if you've seen the series, folks, like minis versus Mustangs, where these little old vintage Mickey Cooper's got up against these 1960s Mustangs, and the Mustangs are absolute behemoths in a straight line, obviously big chunky American supercar, muscle cars. And these little Mini Cooper's are so much slower on the straits, but they're so nippy and rapid through the callers. and Alonso may as well be driving a vintage mini Cooper in saying of that Honda Powerdustin Martin right now.

But the Williams, good God. Carlos Sykes absolutely demolished into the wall at the start of the Grand Prix, had to change the front wing, was last by a country mile, Alex Albums just crashing into people, can't actually drive the car through a single corner without it almost falling off the racetrack. Friando Alon says laughing at you while half the car is falling off. It's just a horror show. It is just so terrible watching Williams.

right now. I think with, I'm going to say, Alonzo, Holcomberg and Bortoletto, they were all in this kind of same boat where I don't think any of them quite at the pace to score points, but they were held back by how long it took them to get by the Williams. And what we're often seeing from all three of those drivers, and we saw it here, they were almost the last three drivers to make their pit stops despite starting on soft tires. The reason is, there's no point them trying to undercut anyone, because undercutting usually involves overtaking, and neither the Audi or the Aston Martin because of their engines can really make that happen.

So they're just having to rely on, we're just going to overcut everyone and hope for a safety car. They didn't get it, and that's why they don't score points today. But, yeah, they weren't slow. It's just that straight line speed means they can get stuck behind cars like the Williams if they get good starts. Sam, I think you called the Olly Behrman

move earlier a murder possibly. It's a terror attack, mate. In which case, this question might have a rather obvious answer. Do you think it was a worthy penalty? Yeah, I love the way the pairman's straight on the radio, by the way. My wing mirrors alongside his tyre.

It's fine. It's absolutely fine. I think you got to the apex first. Sure. Yeah, that's how it works. I think he's thinking, like, my car was on the apex of the corner technically, so that means it's first there. Right. Yeah, yeah. It's the only way.

He's counted that. That's how it works, isn't it? Sure. Yeah, this is horrific. This is not good wheel to a race. And I've been having a lot of praise recently. That move on science, for example, at Singapore. Filthy, loved it.

The wheel to work is done against Stockholm again at Singapore. Great. He was also really going to Spang. This. Back to school, son. Back to school. Because that was atrocious. Absolutely diabolical.

Paul Pierre Gasper has done well to get out there alive. I might be misremembering here, but it might just be this section because didn't he spin here like two? Corners later last year. It was him, wasn't it? Yeah, it's in the gravel, yeah. Just those corners.

Hates them. Didn't he get a penalty for that as well? He came back on the track. Hates the stadium section. Yeah. I mean, I thought it was a fairly obvious penalty. You were lined, Harry? Yeah.

Just like you said, Sam, we've given him a lot of praise recently, and rightly said, but this one wasn't on. That is not on. It's not on, Ollie, mate. done, not on. Sin on.

Norton step. Norton step for as many minutes as your car number says. It's a lot of minutes. It's a lot of minutes, son. Well, I'm not sure he's going to be a contender for this award, but there'll be a few drivers out there that are. Let's give out our driver of the day. You're the driver of the day. You're the driver of the day.

You're good at driving. Sam, this one was a very close vote with the public, because I think Vostappen was leading the way for much of this Grand Prix, but only just about ahead of race winner Antonelli and Charles LeCler, with ultimately LeCler just about getting it. So are those three drivers in the mix? Are you giving out to any of them? The top two for me are the only two that I think deserve real proper contention for this.

But I am going to go with Charles Leclair, not Antingelli. I didn't see LeClear make a mistake. And that's been the difference for me. He fought one at the start. The car wasn't quite there. Dapen gets back through. Okay, maybe you can class that as a mistake. Maybe you class that as a little defying other day.

That's up to you. The only mistake we saw from Antingale of course was when he was behind the Williams, goes off, locks up the brakes. It didn't cost him anything. But still, I thought that was a great Grand Prix. I thought he really did a brilliant job at maximizing that strategy, making the overtakes work, getting through the likes of Norris,

then Vastappen, clear enough. I really thought he drove brilliantly. Antingelli is like 1% behind for me. It's that close. Who have you got, Harry? I am going for Rantam. I think LeCleuze is definitely a very fair shout, but I'm going for Antinelli because I don't necessarily think,

as you were alluding to earlier, Ben, I don't think the Mercedes was actually the quickest car this weekend, but Antenelli was the quickest driver, and that was shown today. Yep. I'm going to shout out Liam Lawson for what he did in the midfield as well, but for me, this did come down to the top three and probably the top two, McClure and Antonelli.

I'm also going to give it to Kimmy Antonese. the way in which he dictated this Grand Prix and won it at such a comfortable margin. He gets my vote, but I will say both of the top two will be in contention for 10 out of tens tomorrow on power rankings. Obviously, haven't worked out what they're all going to get yet, so who knows?

Maybe you'll tune in and they'll both get nines, but I will say at this point, I'm thinking about it for both of them. Bloody hell. And you'll have to tune in to find out. There's a certain set of city gates you've got to walk through to hear that show. Patreon for anyone who really doesn't get a reference.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell me when city I need to go in. Albuquerque, I'm the Albuquerque. Who doesn't want to be an Albuquerque? Shout out New Mexico. Right. We're off to old Mexico later. Worst driver of the day.

Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. I'm so sorry for my neighbor shout in, shout out of New Mexico at 10 past 11 at night. Worst driver of the day. I think I'll send you back to Oscar next year so you don't do this. Oh no.

Oh, go. Be louder, be loud to take us on. I'd hate that. Make me go. Oh, no. Presents bags. I'm back to Reggie. Harry, who was worst driver of the day?

George Russell, stinky, stinky poo-boo. We're a wiffy boy. Sam? That's a fair shout. I'll go, Berman, just for some variety, because he's committed to murder. Yeah, my three contenders were Olly Berman, George Russell, and Ted Cruz.

I am going to go with... Ted Booze, more like... Whoa! Wow. I wonder what he's done to be so unpopular. I'm going to go George Russell. Yeah, it was smelly, real, real smelly. Big brain strap.

Need you to box for wets? What? It's not even raining out. What are you talking about? Strategy quite a factor here today. Sam, so I imagine there's a few considerations here, but what's your big brain strategy? I've actually gone for a serious one,

and it feels like an obvious call, but it's hunting at this one-stop. Just think that it worked brilliantly. They ran the fastest race, and they got away with it. Cool. I'll go for a less serious one. I'm going to go with

the decision from Audi to pick Gabriel Bortoletto under the virtual safety car. They just basically gave up a position for nothing. I like to think that they just wanted to put him on some fresh soft tires so he could perfect turn 8 again

and go, Shavi, look at how I've done this again this time during the race. Did you see, Gabi? One serious, one not so serious, which way are you going, Harry? I am going for Estabanoch on

asking if, well, basically saying he's faster than Ollie Behrman, I should be let through. I can help. And the team being like, no.

And he goes, well, better watch the onboard. And you saw that overtaking into turn one. That was for, but it was such a threat that they wait,

damn, swap the cars, swap the cars. Damn, do it, do it, do it, do it. The man is serious. What was his team radio at Mexico, like two years ago.

I don't think it was last year, maybe it was two years ago. And it was something like that, like, oh, whatever team it was, they better watch out. And it was...

Oh, yeah, yeah, and then it just can go from materialized. Literally like, Dave with Brent, oh, you're odd.

I can't remember exactly what it was, but yeah. Right, that's going to do it for Big Brain Strat. We'll take our final break on this episode, on the other side,

moment of the day. the race. Welcome back, everyone, to the final part of today's review of the United States Grand Prix, and it's time for moment of the race. Sam, what are you going for? I'm going for the Fagando. I'm also, Jull, with the Williams, because while, again, we only had to watch it on a tiny little screen in the corner of the big screen, it was really, really fun.

And I also just has this knack for creating overtakes in places that shouldn't exist. And it is a wily old fox, but he's still going. And you're just knowing his helmet is beaming with both. both a combination of glee and also fury, so deep inside of him that he's got to do this battle. But I loved it. Absolutely loved it. And I watched it again, again.

Harry, what was your moment of the race? A couple of contenders. That was on my list. I'll also go for the Max Verstappen send on Lano Norris. When it looked like Hamilton was going to over, sorry, the club was going to overtake him, and he turned it into an overtake. Someone calling ambulance.

But not for me. I love that, apart from the commentary, Whereas I'm not even not even noting that. Talk about what you're seeing with your eyes, Crofting. I would often say that Crofty to a fault shouts too much about what is literally happening on the racetrack in that moment, regardless of what's going on elsewhere. And that's the one time he isn't shouting about it.

Yeah. Another note was Martin Brodnell saying, I'm a tuna tartar man, which I thought was vintage. You know what? Yeah. It's so right. It scans, right? It seems about right.

So good. But my actual member of the race is they cut to, which I'm assuming is a fairly new camera shot, or not one we see very often, but it was a wheel gun POV, and it was the worst freaking shot in the world. We waited for like 10 seconds. The car don't doubt.

They're like, well, this is crap, when are they going away from it? This wrist for 10 seconds. Yeah. I've got a great, great new name for that camera. They can call it the Achilles, wheel. Oh, God.

I hated that. I hate it. Ordinably groaned when that came out. Ugh. He was, sorry, not a mate, it's a croftly fashion. He was on particularly crap for him today. It was one point. You're right, but we've seen at every race.

There was one point when he was trying to, like, say something like, yeah, about the the Antonelli was almost, you know, so close to the championship. And he was like, and there's 50. Laps to get, no, it's 43. The check of flags on lap 56. I was like, just spit your word out, man. And also, you go to the bit where he does this round of the race for someone's about to cross the line.

He ending it too soon. So we had to figure out of shit off with, and Anthony Kelly's coming round the last corner to cross it. I said, oh, for God's sake, man. Moment of the race for me, an honourable mention just for Zach Brown creating the word optionality. That's the most Zach Brown word of all time.

I feel like he's taking a leaf out of my book there. Can't lie. My actual moment of the race, though, was Charles Lecler's overtake on Max Verstappen on the first lap. I know he got overtaken again at the end of the straight, but you have to wake up very early in the morning to overtake Max Verstappen anywhere,

let alone at a very fast part of the racetrack, took some guts as well as some skill. So, yeah, I'll go with that. Charlotte, Clair is an early riser, famously. Famously. Up with the crack of dawn. Okay, let's move on to our Discord, shall we? Let's do that.

Okay, what do our Discord have to say? Thank you so much to everyone who put in their moment of the race submission. It is much appreciated. Shall we start with? Must be the Kardashians. Kim? My moment of the race is Kimi Antonelli almost winning the World Championship

by one spot from Lewis away, one spot from Russell away. So close. Next race it is. but my moment of the race is actually Kimi Antonelli only getting one, one track warning this race compared to the 10 million from the previous race. Just one, getting better.

It's one of those funny and serious points at the same time. It's just hilarious how often he's done it in the past and also it's just like genuinely congratulations for solving this at a track where he easily could have picked up a penalty. It's also funny that he got so many in the last race in Singapore, famously a street circuit, and now we're at Austin, which has so much run off.

And he's like, nah, nah, not today. It's about like four corners you can cut at Singapore. I only did them all. Let's move on to Arresta. Hi, late breakers. Arresta here from not so sunny Philadelphia

because I got dumped last week. Anyway, my moment of the race was all the yellow flags that showed up at the beginning. And we never seemed to get an explanation for other than the fact that there was debris on the track, but I never actually saw any of the debris. To make you feel better, Arresta.

If we were doing a Hall of Fame for audio quality from submissions, you'd make it, no doubt. Yeah, top five. Better than mine. I did have the many, many yellow flags noted down, because why? Because we had the VSC. Oh, he didn't really touch on VSC, but a polling use of it today. Oh, yeah, just bad.

But just also when it ended, the first time it ended, as it ended, there was a shot of a Stappan bumping into a bit of debut. I was like, well, they've clearly not cleared that up. And then the second one, which is Valdry Bortez's car hanging in the air. Meditating. Grieflach, it's all fine. It's probably why Nadergauss was so angry. I just looking at Valtrey Bortez's stranded car and going,

guys, that is not moving. That is not going. And they're gearing themselves up to try, it's not going anywhere. And it didn't budge. Sorry, Arresta. Thanks for taking some time out to submit, though. Massively.

you feel better soon. Bungers. It's the McLaren C.E. Oh, yeah. And the moment of the race, I honestly think has to be that Charles Leclair overtake on lap one through the S's, that thing was gorgeous. Yeah. God, is this all your own quality set time as well? He sounds delightful. Thank you, Bungers. Very much appreciated. You're absolutely right. Yeah, same wavelength. Absolutely that term one, sorry, that lap one overtake. What do you think of that turn one though, Ben? I know you've got strong opinions in the term one game. What your thoughts?

On it generally or this year? Just generally, on co-to-term one. Code to turn one. Yeah, one of the best out there. Good to go, okay, move on. I mean, it's obviously worsened by the big Tesco. Sorry, the big summer field that's there. That's too niche.

I'm sorry, that's so neat. Other than that, though, yeah. I love that term one. Yeah, I think it's a good one. Excellent. Lance is up next. Better than Stroll here with my moment of the race. Moment of the race had to be Crofty's cringe, Achilles' wheel comment.

Oh, Jesus. Can Sam or Harry anybody do commentary besides Crofty? Come on. Yes. Wow, savage to me. Literally anyone. Sam, Harry, Clives, the five Christmas of birthdays, Michael Kane, Rob Marshall. What would, Mike?

local cane sound like commentating on the GERS GP. I don't know. Well, after a seeing other time, won't we? Oh, a day late, and oh, a dollar shot. You imagine Martin and Michael Caring on the comm together. And get me getting through an allergy together. Marshall Brundle. He has made an overtake.

Well, he's got as much shots to do in that. It's my gang's chocolate fireguard. Oh, that's a great analogy, then, Mike. The race hasn't started. I don't have to start on four hours there. I need to get it all out. By the way, an hour and eight for the Gant chart of when it's all up the rails. Just over the hour, Mark, every time.

All the gong regulars have stopped listening. Yeah, always remember the race to turn off. It's all gone to rats. Oh, that famous expression. Now, I was disappointed not to be in Austin this year anyway, but I'm even more disappointed now because trackside, the opportunity we could have met, we could have actually met, King Flavio

What is the blade break As it's me King Flavio reporting live from Cota turn 12 My moment of the race Is watching Charles Max and Lando

go around Turn 1 without pumping into each other It's my first time at the race Pretty cool Me and Maurice Probably go again

Bye I can't believe He was in turn 12 as well But he throws Brick His little leaf hat Or him in the way of where we're sitting if we were there.

Who is standing up? Oh, it's me again. Oh, it's me again. I really enjoy, by the way, because we, you know, we've done some recordings from the stands or whatever. We've waited for it to quiet down.

King Flavio is just in the crowd doing his voice. You mentioned someone next to King Flavio. What's that voice? Oh, thank you very much, King Flavio. Much appreciated. Hazers up next. All right, boys, my moment of the race was a bit of tire strategy.

Seeing a set of soft tires, not last 158 laps, was a bit of a breath of fresh air. Uda4, if we put the one variable that hits the road in Formula 1 under a bit of stress, we get some more excitement towards the end. Madness. Cheers, boys. Thank you, Hazar, as always. Good to hear from you. Very good to hear from you, Hazer.

Up next, not sure on the pronunciation here, I'm going to go with a silent G, G. NAR pilot. This is NAR pilot from the flight deck with moment of the race. Has to be the impromptu conversation about the birds and the bees I had with my children after they saw the race trophy. Well, I'm sure that was an unexpected conversation for you, NAR pilot, but Galapen at some point, we're better than after the United States Grand Prix. That's what I like to say, starting now. It's going to happen at some point.

Yeah. No bigger opportunity. Precisely. After watching Kimmy and Singeli win the USGP. Oh, please move on. Moving on to another trackside submission from Cam Jam. First time submitter here. This is Cam Jam.

Live trackside at the Circuit of the Americas. My moment of the race was the beautiful overtake by Max on Lando Norris to get to P2, which obviously fell to P3. What an incredible. incredible moment. We'll met so many good people if we had gone. Just don't think about it, guys. I'm so glad you brought that out, thank you.

Yeah, yeah. I don't have to find the best way to forget about something to talk about it. Make everyone else think about it as well. Yeah, I can move on. Good. Final one, I'll be honest, I was looking at this name like five times

trying to work out where the split is. I've finally got it. Emo Nirvana is up last. This is Daniel and Noah, trackside at Coda. and our favorite moment of the race was when they went three wide into turn one. That is deserving of woo-woo.

I think it's a worthy woo-woo. It's the sequel to Harry's pow-pow. Oh, p'-paw. Very Texas appropriate. Woo-woo, pow-paw. I mean, that's, what, three trackside submissions. We always love to hear from your trackside, so thank you very much for taking the time.

I'm out of your date at Cota to let us know what your moment of the race was. I think that might be enough of this episode. But power rankings tomorrow, Sam. Yeah, if there's only one city that's greater than Austin City, that's Patriot City. So you won't want to miss that party. Debatable. We'll get into that.

Twinned with Austin. I argue, yes, they are very much twin. Twinned with Austin. Yeah, and Delibol, weirdly. It's on the plaque when you're walking. Oh, good. And it's cheaper to come on in. So do come on in.

The gate is right down below in the description. Click on it. Come on through. And every time that you do come to the city of Patreon, it massively supports the show. And we get to invest it all back in. And thank you to everyone that does support. You get much more benefits of power rankings,

which is coming out tomorrow. You get two bonus steps. Everything's ad-free, classic GP review, a birthday shout-out, beer with breaking, which is always chaos. And we often do that in the week of Cota as well. So that's another shame. Anyway, less than, it's more happiest.

Join Discord. You can do your moment at the race for next week for the Mexico Grand Prix, of course. It might be a championship to siding race, of course. And then follow us on social media. Just like Pierre Gasling, you might be able to get involved in some liking of reels and good old F1 banter. Late breaking F1 everywhere. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. I've been Harry Ead.

And remember, keep breaking late. Woo-woo. B'-bow! B'-pow!