The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Alfa Romeo's Big Decision! | Episode 147

Episode Date: September 15, 2021

The seats for 2021 are starting to run out, one decision that remains to be made is who do Alfa Romeo select to partner Valtteri Bottas. Ben and Sam run through the options and discuss who they would pick for the job. JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAmSUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingTWEET us @LBrakingSUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to The Late Breaking F1 Podcast. Make sure to look out for new episodes every Thursday and Grand Prix Sundays. Hello and a very well welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast. My name's Ben Hocking. Sam Sages here. Harry Ead staying away. We'll have him back at some point we think, but not quite yet. We'll save you that for one more week.

It's been a while since the three of us have been on a problem. That's the third consecutive one where one of us hasn't been in it. I mean, considering that, what, we've done this in a serious manner, for pretty much a year this month now, and I think you could probably count the amount of times that one of us has been away on, you know, less than both your fingers, all your fingers on both hands. And now it's happened three weeks in a row. It's very strange just being a duo.

And, I mean, Harry's missed out on some great banter. That's all I can say, you know? There's been some big moments that Mr. Ead needs to get back here for. So, Harry, if you are bored of Ibiza and sung and having a nice time, then maybe you should come back to Wet England and speak to your two very sad best friends who just like to look at a screen to talk about F1. Make it happen. Sounds good to me.

And more than anything, I just want Harry's valuable input to come back to the podcast because that's what I really miss the most. Also, I'm a bit tired of editing the podcast. I'm not very good at it. I mean, if Harry brings anything, and if Harry's got like a renowned name, it is short, concise answer, Ede. You know, the man knows how to deliver a very to the point

and very definite answer. Also, he does do all of our podcast editing, and he's very good at it. So please come back. We'll have to sit on the fence for Mr. Reid tonight with our topics that we've got. Plenty to discuss, as ever. Charles LeClair looks set to extend his Ferrari stage,

until the end of 2026. We'll be discussing if that's a good move for both parties. Aston Martin, currently seventh in the championship, not enjoying a good year, so we'll be discussing where it's all gone wrong for them and whether they can turn it around at least somewhat this season. And we'll play a game of F1 fill in the blank to round us off. But first of all, all of the pieces in the 2021 driver market

are now coming together. We know the Williams lineup of Albin and Latifie. We know Perez is sticking around. We know Russell finally is getting that Mercedes. seat with Bottas going to Alpha Romeo. It means that there aren't that many pieces left to actually been decided, but one of them is who is going to be Valtric Bottas's teammate at Alpha Romeo. Now, we know it's not going to be Kimi Reichenen. He's retiring at the end of this season, but the question remains who will it be? Will it be Antonio Giovannazzi, who is, of course, in the seat at the moment?

Will it be someone else? Will it be Nick DeVries? Will it be Guan Yu-Jou? Will it be someone else entirely? So, Sam, rather than looking at what you think is going to happen, I want to know what you you think should happen. Oh, that's boring. What you mean what should happen? Okay, what should happen? This is different to what I think will probably happen, but what should happen is

Giovanni has started driving like primetime Michael Schumacher over the last two Grand Prix, and he's putting ridiculous qualified performances, and he's actually decided that he has a car capable of Q3, which is crazy. But do I think it's enough?

No. So therefore, I think what should happen, is that Giavanazzi is unfortunately relegated to the test driver, or whatever you want it to be, his F1 career for now, anyway, is done. So, therefore, it comes down to the likes of F2 drivers, or X F2 drivers. Quang Nuzhou, a Callum I-Lot's game, throwing around a little bit, and of course Nick DeVries, who is the current Formula E World Champ, and X Formula 2 World Champ, of course. And there are some big names there, there are some talented drivers there.

So what do I think should happen? it doesn't really matter that's what I think happens then I just don't see Alpha and Mayo being a top team so I think that realistically they go for Guangzhou they should go for Guan Yu Zhou

due to the financial implications that they can bring to that team if Joe can essentially pay for himself with the budget cut that comes in that frees up way more budget to allow them for development which boosts them up the field to me that makes sense

that's what should happen if I have my business mind on. But if I'm going to talk about racing expertise, if we're going to talk about people that have gone out and achieved something, Nick DeVries feels like it should be the safe option. He's someone that's gone and won a championship. He's already won the championship that is the Figa series. He's had time to develop. It puts the relationship with Mercedes in a very good spot, which Alfa Mayo is slightly hinting that they might want. So in a realistic sense, that also should happen. Whatever Alfa Mayo do, though, I have absolutely no idea.

I don't think I've seen a team have so many blimming options for a new season seat as Alfa May have had. I thought William's had a lot. Alfred May I've got about nine drivers they could possibly take on. It's quite crazy. So for me, yeah, financially,

it should be Zhao, grand new show, should be show, sorry. In terms of experience, it should be in degrees. That's when my head is at, Benjamin. What do you think? Before I say, I'm actually interested to know, Sam,

who you think it will be, because I want to see, if these answers are very different before I give my view on both of them as well. I, there's a given to who I think it should and who I want it to be. You've got 10 pound in your back pocket. You're not allowed to, you're not allowed to spend it on gingerbread men. You have to, unfortunately, I mean, it's a great buy.

But you've got to put it on who is going to be the second alpha-a-maio driver. Walk into your local bookies out in London town. Hello, yeah, it's me, Sam, the London town boy. I'd like to buy one gingerbread man and a Nick DeVries for a tenor, please. Nick DeVries. Yeah, that's who I think gets it. You're insinuating that one gingerbread is therefore worth nothing. That's not one.

No, I'm insinuated that Nick DeVries is worth nothing. Oh, okay, that's all right, then. If you're insulting Nick DeVries, I can allow it, even if I don't agree with it. Gingerbread men, that's where I crossed. That's where the lines crossed. I can't do it. Look, I had to pick someone in that analogy to insults. And I can't insult a gingerbread man. I'm sorry. Nict of Freezing every other scenario. Bloody lovely. Absolutely love him. But when it comes to gingerbread men, Nick to freeze, I'm sorry. Not today. Harry's going to be proud, isn't he? He'd edit all this out, but good thing, folks. I can't be bothered to. So you'll get all of this. That is also a massive joke.

You literally get like everything that we say, all of our ridiculousness, even if you don't ask for it. From my view, actually, the second alpha-a-o-c is very dependent on the already confirmed alpha-o-c. I think there are a few considerations that they need to take on board, which I think will impact their decisions. So there's three, to be precise. So firstly, Valtry Bottas is an experienced driver. he is a veteran of the sport he's been in formula one for oh this must be his ninth season possibly in formula one so he's been around longer than nearly everyone there's only a few drivers that have more experience than him at this point i think that that's a factor second factor in this is

that whilst he is definitely experienced he is walking into a brand new team he has never used a Ferrari power unit he has no connection to alpha Romeo at the moment that for me is a factor And then thirdly, actually the contract itself, So Valtrey Bottas is on a multi-year deal with Alpha Romeo. Now we don't know, or at least I don't know where this is going already. At least I don't know whether that's a two-year deal or a three-year deal. I think it's probably one or the other. I would guess it's a two-year deal, but it's a multi-year deal nonetheless,

which, again, I think is a factor. So if we look at all of those individually, so firstly, he's experienced. The fact that he has experienced would give a fund. up to everyone who isn't in Formula One who would be a rookie. You don't want to put two rookies alongside each other. You don't want to put a rookie alongside a one-year driver. You want to put, ideally, a rookie alongside an experienced driver. Bottas has experienced. So all of the, the likes Guan Yu-Jos, Nick DeVries, Teo Pochere, all of those guys, that's definitely a mark for them. If you were then to look at the fact that he's new to Alpha Romeo, that

massively helps Antonio Giovanni because he would be that continuation on from this year. Now, you could argue that because it's a brand new car, that actually that means a lot less from 21 to 22 compared to other years. And I would have time for that argument and I think you'd be right. But still, there is that element of knowing the team. And I think if you look at what has have done, it's not successful yet, that's for sure. But they did the double switch. They brought in Mazapin and Schumacher, but they did so in a year where it didn't really matter whether they were good or bad, because the car's so bad, they could never take advantage of it. Now, next year, if they have another bad car, it's going to mean absolutely nothing. But if they do have

something more competitive, theoretically, year two Schumacher and Mazepin are going to be better than year one, Schumacher and Mazepin. And then the third thing is the two-year deal. I'm going to compare this to the Alpine situation. So you remember Esteban Ocon got a long-term deal earlier in the year. I was 100% against this because I felt that it restricted Alpine. Not saying Ocon's a bad driver, but it just limited their options massively. And I think signing two drivers to a multi-year deal would leave them in a very similar situation. Now, Bottas, I think is going to work out for Romeo.

And I think it's a fantastic pickup for both parties. but there's no guarantee. And if that doesn't work, they are tied into that contract for two, maybe three years. They can't afford for that to be the case for two drivers where they can't bring up a rookie that they really want. You know, look at Alpine. Oscar Piastri, there is a chance,

will win F3 and F2 in back-to-back years at the first time of trying. And he is not going to be in an Alpine next year because of the fact that they've got two drivers locked in. Look at the last two drivers that did that achievement. Piestri hasn't done it yet, but he could well do. Look at the last two did it. Russell and Lecler, they're pretty good. And Piestri's not going to have that chance because of the contract situation.

With all that in mind, what I think should happen and what I think will happen are exactly the same in that I think that they should keep Antonio Giovannazzi for one more year. Now, earlier on in the year, I was on this train of thought, but I actually thought it should be Reichenen who did that job instead, just because I think Reikinen would be a bit more suited to the on-year deal than say Jovanazzi. But I think for the sake of continuation, and you know, if Jovanazzi comes out next year and he has an absolutely brilliant year, fine, have him for a few more years. But he's got the opportunity at that point and you're not tied in for more years after that. So that's what I would go for. No disrespect to the likes of Nick DeVries or Islet,

who I think would do a fine job, but they don't have the experience in Formula One that Jovanazzi has, and I still believe that Alfa Romeo are eyeing up Teo Porcere to go in that seat, but look at what's happened with Yuki Sonoda this year. I think he still needs one more year in F2. This way of doing it would allow for that. Funny enough, and I think you make a very, very gay argument on all points. At one point, and keen ear listeners will have noticed that I said there is a difference between who I think should and who I want to go in that seat. And let's just say a couple of those F2 rookies are who I would love to actually go in that seat. Piaastri, if he could broker a deal

in some fashion with Alpine that allows him to race in that seat, I think he deserves, especially if he wings like championship, thoroughly deserves an F1 seat, and I'd love to see him in it. And Taylor, if he can get the drive, again, I think he deserves it less than Piazsche at the moment, but Piascrii has a harder route to get there. Pouscher definitely has an easier route to get there. I would very much like to see him in that seat as well. Actually, they would be my two preferred picks for the seat if I have the fantasy world where I got to decide what went on. But Chief Vangasi, as much as I think he is doing all right, in he. I mean, I don't know if I think he's earned enough for another whole season,

but with the regulation changes with Kimmy leaving, with a new head coming into the team, it does make sense to the argument that you've given. So I understand why you've gone, Gio. Yeah, and I wouldn't even disagree with what you've said there in terms of, I don't think he's done enough for another year. I agree. I don't think he has. I think he's just going to benefit, thanks.

to the situation and how it's unfolded. You know, Wright kind of retiring, Bottas on a multi-year deal, brand new to the team. It feels like it's written for Jovanazzi to have one more year. And like I say, it gives him an opportunity. And they're not tied in either way.

If Bottas comes in next year and wipes the floor clean of Jovanazzi, you can say, okay, goodbye, off to Hypercars for you, Sunshine. Or if he does a good job, you can say, okay, well, you're doing a great job for us. stay another year, why not?

Gives you the flexibility. As Labyrinth Feet Tiny Temple once said, oh, it's written in the stars. And that drive might not be a million miles away. I never thought I'd get a Labyrinth line into a late-breaking podcast. But there we go, folks, it's happened. Another niche British artist reference.

Well, you know us. The season's come and go, but we will never change. We're on our way. I'm quite impressed, Ben. Well done for getting that second part in. No problem. If you've got no idea of what that song is, that has flown completely over your head.

But if you do know, you're going to be loving it. Yeah, I mean, definitely if you haven't heard it, and you like a little bit of British R&B slash rap, go and give it a listen. To be fair, it's a bit of a bop. Not usually my usual style, but, oh, it's a corker. It's a good one. Written in the Stars, it's called.

It's a really, really good song. Anyway, back to the F1 stuff immediately. Written in the Stars and Gingerbread Men and we are 14 minutes and 30 seconds in. Come on. Bring it on. Just out of interest on those options because there were quite a few F2 drivers mentioned there. There are a lot of names.

If we're looking at, let's say, Nick DeVries and Kalamila as two just to pick those out, neither have any experience in Formula One. How do you potentially choose between those guys? You have to go on past results, past experiencing other areas that make sense. If you look at F2 to start with, Callum Ilot did not win F2. He didn't get the victory. He was beaten by Schumacher, who was displayed fair competence, I would say, this season.

He's definitely not being a standout driver. It's really hard to be in that car, to be fair. I can't really diss him too much. But, you know, he's outdone his teammate by quite a large margin. And he's been good, not brilliant. You know, he's got good development in him, I think. I lot did not win F2 Nick DeVries did win F2

So I only think that's one point to To DeVries Now if you look outside of the classic Figer series into Formula One Who would you argue has been more successful? Well, I lot had that pogim in the WEC series Which is great, but is it directly applicable? It's not single seat to racing

Although it does show good racecraft But Nick DeVries has gone to become The first world champion Of another series that Okay, has lots of differences, okay, is probably a little bit slower overall, but it's close contact racing, it's open wheel racing, it's single-seater, and has a relationship with a lot of the families and involvement

that are also in Formula One. I just think that unfortunately for Callum Islet, all things just tilt Nick DeVries's way. Callum Hollett's a very solid driver. I just think he's come at a very unfortunate time where we're in a bit of a golden generation of talent, and there aren't enough seats. And he hasn't got massive financial backing like Guangzhou has

to maybe unsettle the apple cart a little bit. So for me, Nick DeVries just gets the god of the head. Yeah, I think I'll probably agree with you, to be honest. I don't think there's much in it, but yeah, based on Nick DeVries having won two very respectable championships, I think you'd have to go in his direction. Now, you know, Nick DeVries, I've said before that I don't think he's going to be up there.

Or if he does get to F1, I don't think he would be up there with the elite. and I don't think that would be the case for Islet either but I think of those two just because of those accolades I would also go with DeVries I mean one last question on this so if you're unaware you're Jensen Button World Champion in Formula One

had a very successful career for about 15 years or so if you're unaware the way in which he got into Formula One was via a shootout essentially he went up against Bruno Junquiera in a Williams at a test in what would have been I guess

1999 or possibly early 2000 they put them against each other Button was quicker so Williams gave him the seat and you know

the rest was history and Bustin went on to win a world championship so Sam we don't usually see that sort of thing should we? I would love

to see that sort of thing I the way that test drivers they played a very more it felt like they're playing a more instrumental role in Formula One, kind of in the late 90s, early 2000.

You saw them feature a lot more, and the test trial was also often your reserve drivers. So if there's a problem, they would step in. And that's not the only story where we've had some kind of shootout or direct comparison between test drivers and maybe a second driver or a rookie driver. I would 100% love some kind of, I don't know, past F1 car, Alpha Mayo possibility race. you know, where they put all of them, all the six or seven different games on a grid, you've got a qualifying lap, and maybe you did a 15-lap race,

and we just sent them off, no pit stops, whoever comes out on top gets the seat. It shows racecraft, it shows one-lap pace, it shows your ability to, you know, pace yourself, and make sure that you can do wheel-to-wheel racing. To me, why would you not? It's almost like a practice match for a football game. It makes total sense. Also, televise it, I want to watch it. So there you go.

100%. Do that more. it would absolutely be so entertaining i i think it's pretty unrealistic for nowadays which is a shame but televised like you say televise it that would be crazy i would be all on board i'd love bookies odds i would love to see you know um fangs turn up for it i'd love to see kind of the the history of each driver to see how they might get there you could do a whole thing about it I'm well up for it. Ben, you put that idea in my mind and how I really, really wants it. Like ice cream. Love that as well.

Thank you, Bruno Rehniela. What a guy. What a guy. We'll move on to Charlotte Clare. We're going to discuss him next. He's got a deal with Ferrari until the end of 2024 as it stands. And as we record this right now, there are heavy rumours that he will actually extend that time. So he will go until the end of 2026. So a number of years into the future. Do you think this would be a good move, firstly, for the driver?

Do you think this would be good for Leclair? No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Charlotte Claire, you are brilliant. There's a reason why we call you got to Claire. Yes, it's a bit of a fun, it's a bit of fun, bit sitting us. But, you know, you have backed yourself time and time again. I backed you the moment you went into that Ferrari seat, and I say you'll beat Sebastian Vetto when you did it.

And I've got a lot of respect for Sebastian Veto. I really rate Zabati In Veto very highly. but you came in a you beat a four-time world champion his team, in a new car for yourself, in the first season. Ferrari need Charles LeCler, more than Charles LeCler needs Ferrari. And I know that LeCler has had this dream, you know, linked with his Ebert situation, linked with his dad, who, if you don't know, the story, his father passed away. And just before his father passed away, LeCleur lied to his dad and said, I've been signed by Ferrari. to give him that final little boost before unfortunately he passed away.

But then he was obviously, as you now know, signed by Ferrari, which is a very romantic story. You know, it's very wonderful that that was able to happen and that kind of false truth became a truth. So I think Charlotte Clough has a real romantic association with Ferrari. I think he loves being with Ferrari. Do I think that he needs to extend that contract now to 2026? No way, Jose.

If you continue with this talent, which I believe he comfortably will, if you continue putting in the results, which again, I believe you comfortably will. If you continue to jail with the team as he has, which there's no reason why he wouldn't, then why not give it at least one more year in the new regulations? Why not see what this cut of payment actually does for the team?

Why not see what the transition in facilities and regulations and how the car is going to wax? And maybe your new teammate in a couple of years of time might be, because 2026 is a long time. away, what, five years until that season is going? Five years ago, the people of the United Kingdom were still voting on Brexit. Bloody L, you know, crazy times. So, a lot can happen in five years, and I think that realistically, for Charlotte Clare, this is a silly thing to do. At least give yourself one season in the new regs before you make that decision. It's not like he's going

anywhere. It's not like going to turf him out in 12 months if he doesn't sign the deal. The guy is comfortably in that seat and deserving of a great seat in F1. So, he's not like he's going to So I think this is rash. I think they are. I think Ferrari know that they need to push him to lock down things further because someone might pinch him in a couple of years' time. But it makes sense for Ferrari. For Charlotte Clare, take your time, son.

You've got plenty of time to barter and make you sure you're in the right place. I mean, just to expand on that from Ferrari's perspective, this isn't necessarily in line with how they dealt with star drivers before. It's not how they dealt with Schumacher or Alonza or even Bethel. but it seems to be they've gone for a different tack with Leclair in trying to secure him for a long time. They already have done that and just want to do that even more. Why do you think Ferrari are treating this differently?

I think Ferrari have had such a drought of success and I think maybe even more so than Vettel, who I think was brilliant at Ferrari, especially for those couple of seasons where it looked like Ferrari could challenge Masekis. I think Vettel at that point was the only person you could put in that Ferrari which would challenge Hamilton and the Mercedes team. I think for the most part, he did as much as he could.

That Ferrari wasn't ever really going to make it to the end of the season, especially when you're up against the hands of Lewis Hamilton and that ever-evolving Mercedes. But I think Charlercler is what, he was the youngest Ferrari driver they've signed in, God knows how many years, I'm sure being a stat man, you can tell me how long it was. But I think that's what they want to hold on to. I think they've taken that commitment. They took one risk in signing Charlecler, and they realized, hang on a minute, We've got something here.

Let's give it a go. Let's see how it goes. And it has paid off for them massively. Now, what, Charlotte Clare is in his early mid-20s. So he could be a Ferrari driver if they get things right for at least, what, 10, 12 more years? That's a long time to build a team around someone. And Schumacher was able to do it. And I think they see a lot of Schumacher in Charlotte-Cleur.

And as long as he could continue to build that team, make sure the culture works for him, be the focus and the center of attention. they are solid. They have one seat to worry about whether Carlos Sikes goes somewhere else or doesn't perform or doesn't stick around or maybe they fulfill the other fantasy in Formula One that is a Schumacher back to Ferrari.

It can happen. They know that they've got a dependent other side of the garage that is incredibly quick, is incredibly reliable, and works for them perfectly. So for Ferrari, you're clever, I think, if you sit there and you get this locked down. If you work this out and you get it locked down,

someone at Ferrari has made a very solid deal for that team for the next five. six seasons. Just in terms of the youngest driver, definitely the youngest since Jackie Ix back in the late 60s. I think it might go even further back to Ricardo Rodriguez,

but I'm not sure on that. I'll give you a stack man. Yeah, I don't deserve more than that. I'm a bit too unsure. But your point remains, regardless of which one it is. So you kicked off that by answering the question,

is this a good move for Leclair with no, no, no, no, and I think you gave about maybe 25 noes, something along those lines. Yeah, 25 to 100. Allow me to add another thousand for you. I am very much in agreement with you on this and I cannot

for the life of me make any sense of it. What has Leclair been given by Ferrari at this point that should fill him with confidence? Well, in 2019, they had an all right-ish car that was perfectly legal for a few races when it did really well, had some great, very legal wins, I would call them. Legal, yes. Nothing wrong with a car at all.

But apart from that, it was a fine car, but it didn't compete for wins outside of those few weeks where, again, it was legal. 2020, the less said about 2020, the better. Pretty much their worst season for 40 years. it was an atrocious car and 2021 you could say well they've really improved this year they've made a massive step forward yeah based on where they were last year which again was their worst year in about 40 years so yeah if you're doing it comparatively fine but really it's still not a very good year based on the amount they spend based on their heritage they're battling with mcclaren for third it's not what they're looking for So in nearly three years, what have they done to convince him that they are going to be successful for a long time coming? There's nothing to suggest that that's the case.

And he wants to extend for two more years? That just seems absolutely baffling to me. And as you've already mentioned, Sam, regulation changes are around the corner. Now, is there a chance that Ferrari turn up in 2022 and they are the best car? Sure, we don't really know what's going to happen, but okay, there might be a slight chance that's going to happen. But I tell you what, there's a much bigger chance that isn't going to happen. And if he signs this deal and it doesn't happen, he's got to be pretty worried for the next few years. Because at that point, he's kind of trapped.

Unless, and this is the big caveat in all this, unless he's got some sort of performance dropout clause in his contract. Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn't. But if that doesn't exist, then he's stuck there for like five years. And it's not like you can look back to, oh, let's look back to the last time that the regular regulations changed massively. Look how well Ferrari dealt with that. 2014. That didn't go very well. If you're unaware of that season,

Fernando Alonzo managed to scrape a few fourth places and fifth places because he's Fernando Alonzo. I think Kimmy Reichen and might have finished like 12th or something ridiculous like that on the year. If it weren't for 2020, it would have been their worst year again, probably since 1980. It was an atrocious year. They did not deal with the regulation change. as well at all. So that shouldn't give you any confidence that they're going to figure it out. But it almost doesn't matter if they figure it out or not. Why not just wait and see? At least give it, like I say, give it a year. See how it goes. Then make your decision because that makes sense. When we talk about Valdre Bottas and we've spoken before how he gets these

one year deals and he's always pushing for that multi-year deal and we're always saying yes, he should push for that multi-year deal regardless of whether we think he deserves it or not. He should absolutely push for it because he needs that security because no offence to Valtry Bottas but he was always slightly punching above his weight with the seat that he was getting. Chau LeCler is not in that scenario. Charles LeClaire is incredibly talented, not saying Bottas isn't, but Charles LeClaire is constantly outperforming the car. He's beat Sebastian Vettel in two years out of two.

He's proven himself as a definitely a championship contender. For me, he has the potential to go on and win a championship and maybe multiple championships. So the onus is really on him. Like it's not on Ferrari. Like you say, are you something up best with one of your sentences there? He doesn't need Ferrari as much as Ferrari need him. Yeah, they have a few options outside of him, but not as good as him. And you could say at this point, well, he might as well secure his future at Ferrari

because there isn't going to, nothing else will open up. You know, Mercedes has got a new driver in. Red Bull have secured, he's not going to get a better chance. Well, actually, first of all, five years is a long time in Formula One, so there's that to start with. Second of all, Mercedes. We don't know when Lewis Hamilton's going to retire. Who is the obvious successor to Lewis Hamilton?

There isn't one. There isn't a Mercedes Junior coming through where you're like, okay, when Hamilton retires, it'll be Russell and this guy. There is no obvious contender. Why not? Why not Charles LeClau be in the mix? when that is the case. Similarly with Red Bull.

First of all, they've already proved that they will hire externally because Perez is in the seat. Second of all, Perez isn't exactly thriving at the moment. If he goes away and they're still not convinced that Gansley's the right driver,

they've got to go with someone again. Why shouldn't it be Charles LeClaire? These options, maybe they're only slight openings. Maybe they don't open at all. But if you sign long term with Ferrari, that's taken away anyway, so it's completely irrelevant.

I'm 100% with you on this. Ferrari, can we just remember here? Ferrari haven't won a championship in 14 years. I understand the heritage. I understand what comes with that drive. But he's not a veteran driver looking for his last payday. This is an up-accoming driver looking for championships. It's a completely different scenario.

They haven't won in 14 years. I haven't seen a right lot recently that makes me think that's going to come to an end any time soon. if we're going to say a team that technically doesn't exist anymore and hasn't existed for a decade won a championship more recently than Ferrari. Thank you, Braun. Come on. I think this would be a pretty awful move. From his perspective.

From Ferrari's perspective, yeah, sign him up because I tell you what, not only is he a great driver, they are probably looking at signing him up on a, not a cheap deal, but let's just say, for example, he's on one-year deals and he wins the world championship. He's going to want world championship money the year after. If they secure his payments now until 2026, they probably don't have to pay him that world championship money

that he would deserve at that point. So from Ferrari's perspective, it's win, win, win. On that, folks, Ferraris was a very touchy subject. There's a lot of diehard to Fosie, which we totally understand. They've been around the longest. It makes sense while they've got such a massive supporting. If you do want to talk more to us about the subjects,

you want to get involved with it, you want to debate a little bit more. you're outside of the podcast, you think, oh, I enjoyed listening to that debate, weirdos. We do have a Discord, jump into the Discord, it's in the link down below. There's 140 odd people in there talking F1 every single day.

Very, very lovely group of people, not seeing a single person to make me think. Otherwise, get involved. Go on, just hit the link. Nothing bad will happen, I promise. Oh, that's dangerous. That's dangerous to promise that. We're going to get sued.

Sorry. Somebody's going to, like, I don't know, like break their fingers. sending a message and they're going to like sue us now. If that's you, don't do it, please. Yeah. I, the late breaking

podcast to you doesn't exist if that happens. The late breaking what? Never heard of it. Late taking myself away from this broadcast. That's for sure. Smooth. Smooth operator. I love it.

Should move on. Actually, a very interesting one here because this topic idea did actually come from the Discord. And apologies because I cannot remember who put this message and almost speaks to your point of everyone speaking F1 every day, which is fantastic. But this comment was made a few days ago and I couldn't for the life for me find it when I was searching through earlier. But regardless, whoever it was, thank you very much for bringing up the idea of us discussing Aston Martin. And they're not doing very well this year. So the situation they're in, they're in seventh place.

bear in mind last year they took McLaren to the final day of the season for third place in the championship so they're underperforming versus 2020 the 25 points behind Alpha Tauri why has it gone so wrong Sam

this is one of the biggest questions in Formula One and it's so difficult to understand why it may have gone wrong and you know folks if you're long term listen to the podcast I'd like to associate these kind of topics with a there's many different factors and I think the first factor that doesn't make any sense

which is why it should be going right is the Mercedes engine you look at the there's obviously four teams that run the Mercedes engine and you look at the success that two of those teams have had there are two race-winging teams now that have got Mercedes engines on one side of it and the other one unfortunately is Williams who hasn't been great as of recent so you don't expect them to be really thriving but the racing point which then became Askin Master

of course, has been, it was excellent. It was constantly up and coming. It was constantly punching above the weight that it had in terms of its budget. So why is it going wrong? Okay, I think firstly, they might be focusing on the transition. And I'm hoping that this is the case. There's been no confirmation of this, but I am hoping that they are spending their time, their engineering resource on nailing the new regulation so that when it comes around next year, they can be an actual challenger. And I like to think that this forward thing, has been cemented by Big Father Christmas Strull, announcing very recently that Asken Martin are going to be building a whole new HQ,

new facilities, state-of-the-art funding. You know, to me, that says long-term commitment. I'm in this for a very long time. We want to win. So I like to think that maybe they've gone, okay, we're looking to the future. We had a good car last year. Let's try and carry on with that,

but not invest too much and hope that fingers crossed, we still get a relatively good position. And to be honest, they've done all right. Technically, they had two podiums. Of course, one got taking away due to a fuel issue, but they've technically finished on the podium twice. So, not bad going. The second thing, last year, when they were the Pink Mercedes, as it was known,

that was exactly it. They borrowed absolutely everything they physically could from a championship-winning team, and then they got called out on it by a lot of different people. And I think that they've tried to stay away from that angle a little bit. I don't think they want to be known as the copycat team, And Ashton Martin, of course, is now a manufacturer themselves. It's not like racing point who only took part really in Formula One

and had obviously junior formulas around them. But Asken Martin have a reputation on the road, in other racing series. You know, they are not just a one-off thing. So I think they wanted to go away, not get that copycat reputation, steer away a little bit from them as saying he's having you build their own car. I think that has backfired a little bit. I think that everyone else has evolved and they've kind of gone, ah, we copied last year.

maybe we don't know how to transition that into the better car it is going to be the next season which a lot of other teams have done obviously. I think finally, they got rid of their best driver. Now, Aston Martin signed Sebastian Vettel and I think that was a great move. It makes total sense. I think get a rig of Chequhar at the time. Silly thing to do, right? He just won a race for crying out loud.

And Sebastian Vetter is going to be, you know, it's not a slouch, he's not a slouch behind the wheel. He's great at what he does. He knows cars. He knows how to develop. a car, he knows how to work with the team and he's a very positive member to have, but you've brought in a brand new driver who doesn't understand your system, your power unit, he doesn't understand how your car drives, that's a big change. Also, you've got Lank Stroll and the other side of the garage who, yeah, he's improving season on season and I respect Stroll being on the grid now.

He's definitely developed enough that he should be there, but he's still not, you know, he isn't good enough to take over from where Checo was last year to pull out those performances. So Vasco Vetter is already scoring more points than Lank Stroll is. team that Lance Strull technically owns. So maybe that says a lot for what's going on there. So I've given you a few reasons as to why I think that maybe Askin Martin are struggling. And I'm hoping the biggest contributor to that is that they are banking on having a great start to the new regulations in 2022. Yeah, I agree with you.

There are a lot of different reasons at play here. There's too many to count, I would say. And I don't disagree with any of the ones you've actually listed there. and I also agree with that hopefully it is because they're banking on next year and they've moved away from this year. Obviously they were on the back foot from the start this year because of the driver change, because of the Mercedes connection somewhat lessening, because of the low rake versus high rake debate that raged on as we went into Bahrain. Obviously that didn't help them or Mercedes. So yeah, they were on the back foot from the start here.

obviously you've also got the Alpha Tauri's made strides this year Ferrari have definitely made strides this year so two teams that they finished ahead of last year have really improved this year so it is a combination of a lot of factors and I do think there is a lot about next year

that we'll play into that I agree with you that they are putting a lot of effort into the future Lawrence Stroll is not there to make up the numbers he's there to win and he knows that there's there's not much point pouring effort into this year because it would just set them off poorly on the next era, which is what they're focused on.

So if anyone had any incentive, apart from Hasse maybe, to focus on next year, they're at the top of the list. And I think that's probably what they've done here. Again, the move to Sebastian Vettel, that doesn't make sense as a short-term deal. It only makes sense if you think they can get something from that for multiple years as well. I will say though, despite all of that, I think too much emphasis is being placed on the car and the future. And I think the team have actually been pretty poor this year for a few reasons.

Firstly, the gap to Alpha Tauri, I will accept that because Alpha Tauri, I'll accept it to an extent, because Alpha Tauri should be ahead of Aston Martin, I think, based on the cars that they've got of their disposal. If it was two Pierre Gassley's in that Alpha Tauri, it wouldn't even be. close. It would be, there'd be miles ahead. The only thing that's keeping Aston Martin in that particular fight is Yuki Sonoda. And I believe both Ashton Martin drivers are currently

beating Yuki Sanoda in the championship. So I think that's what's really keeping it alive from their sake. But they are still losing out and they haven't been able to capitalise on Yuki Sanoda's poor performances. When really you've got Lance Stroll who's got years of experience.

I know Spassie Metal's new to the team, but he's you know, he should be able to be a rookie Yuki Sunoda, given the cars, by more than what he is. So I give a bit of leeway to that, but not too much. And you can say, well, Sebastian Vettel should have got the 18 points at Hungary. Sure, but that still leaves them seven points behind. It doesn't really change the point. They'd still be trailing just by a slightly better margin.

For me, the actual indication that they have been poor this year is not their comparison to sixth place alpha-tax. It's actually the fifth place Alpine. Now, I actually think, and this might be disagreed upon, I think Alpine have not got a better car than Aston Martin. I think it's pretty much dead level. I don't think there's much in it at all. And I just think that the Alpine drivers have done a better job of maximizing that car this

year. If we think, first of all, Ocon's win. And he's had a few other performances, but it's mainly the win from Ocon's side. and it's Alonzo's sheer consistency. I think he scored in potentially seven of the last eight races or something along those lines. And the one he didn't score in was Spar. So, you know, that heavy asterix on that one.

So really, you've got Alonzo who is consistently getting the most out of that car. In qualifying, there generally isn't much between them. There've been a couple of poor races from Aston Martin's side, but on an average weekend, there isn't too much that separates the two teams there. And I just think that Alpine have done a better job. I think Ocon and Alonzo have done better than Stroll and Vettel. Stroll, for me, hasn't done much different this year than what he did last year. I don't really see much of an improvement.

He's been pretty average. He's fine, but he's no better than fine. And he rarely shows great. Sebastian Vettel's had a few standout performances. You know, Baku, Monaco was. probably even though it wasn't his best result, it might have been his best performance of the year, but even they have been few and far between. And yeah, you said it some. If you had to choose between 2020 Perez and 2021 Vettel, it ain't even close who you're taking. So fingers crossed from their

side that they get this together next season. At least I don't think it's going to matter too much this. This year, I think, is a bit of a right off now. They might get sick for Amalfa Tauri if Yuki Sonoda keeps on making these errors, but I think that will be the limit. So the point you've made there, after all that, is that Fernando Alonso is still the two-time world champ guard, is what you're saying. I mean, this might be a discussion for another time to fully go into this, but Alonzo has still got a lot to offer F1. I When Alonso came back

I was very nervous because as a podcast we are very big Fernando Alonso fans we love a bit of Fernando both by Abba and the racing driver

themselves and when you know it was an answer he was actually returning it could have easily have gone one of two ways

but to see Fernando I don't think he's 100% you know the Fernando that was maybe in 2012 or you know those kind of

regions but good Lord he's still got so much in him that I think some of the current F1 grid will never even get close to, even Fernando now. The ability that that man has, the, you know, the move from the outside of Zandvo is a prime example.

He just knows how to pull off these incredible moments and he does it almost on a weekly basis. That man is so good. And it's a shame he burns the bridges because I think that really seriously a top team can still happily snap him up. Because I agree, I think that Alping is probably no better

than that Askin Martin. But I think Alonso and Ocon's wing are the difference. I'll say this about Alonzo, and this is going to sound like the weirdest compliment in the world, but I actually think he's lost quite a lot of pace. I don't think he's as quick as he used to be, but the fact that he is still as good as he is just proves what a talented driver. Pure pace, I think he's fine as pure pace-wise, but I don't think there's much difference between him and Ocon, pure pace.

I think they're pretty much 50-50. incredible hearing into his... And we're going well off topic now, but it wasn't incredible hearing into the mindset of when Ocon was complaining about being stuck behind Alonso and to hear how intentional the pace was from Alonkso that he's like, if he does the same thing, we'll be well up the field.

I know I'm going slow. I'm doing it for an exact reason. And the payout was ridiculous. There was like three places between him at the end. The man is a strategic genius. That's the thing. Like, he's just smarter than the other people. Not to say the others are all dummies,

but he's smarter than the rest of them or most of them. Yeah. He just, he knows what he's doing. And he can, like I say, I think, I don't think the pace is 100% there anymore, but he can adjust to it. And that's what a good veteran does. We've got another topic, haven't we, Benjamin?

Fill in the blank, makes a return. Oh, we've got a little theme for this, haven't we? Oh, geez, have we? Yeah, we do. Let me have a look. Let me have a look. Here we go. See, you can find it, folks.

I tell you what, I don't, I don't have. it on it. He's lost it. He's lost it. I'll do it Acapella folks for you this time around. It simply goes. F1, Phil in the... Who's Phil? That's literally it. That's why we haven't uploaded it because it is our worst jingle by an absolute mile. Folks, if you want to give some inspiration on a new fill in the blank

jingle, again, hang over to Discord. Or if you want to support the podcast and you are very, very lovely, Patreon, down in the description we've got an event coming up which we'll talk about at the end of the podcast i mean am i allowed to gunge our current fill in the blank theme you know what yes gung it come on dave come on down i mean he almost wasn't ready this week we didn't have pumped the brakes on so he wasn't he's not at my door waiting to come in waiting to do the gunging but he's um he's run out in his little tally he's um he's run out in his little tacks that he was in the shower. Hold on.

I've got a gunge someone. He loves it though. He loves it. Big smile on his face. Cheers Dave. Big, big thanks. Big daddy, Dave. Three sentences for fill in the blank. It's fairly self-explanatory. This one. We just have to fill in the blank with whatever word or number or whatever feels appropriate. So, Sam, kick off for you.

Vastappen should feel blank heading into the rest of this season. Confident I'm going to go with. Max Verstappen, despite it being a little bit bumpy, despite there being a few moments, I believe, has weathered the majority of the storm. I think if he can somehow get through the Russia moment, which I think is the final big test for Red Bull, then I think he can feel confident that there is every chance

that he can go on and win this championship, especially in a Red Bull, which I believe is the best car on the grid. Got by a lot, but I do think it is the better car of the two. So for me, the Stappen should feel confident heading into the rest of the season. God, it's like a spell in B. Use it in a sentence. Confident. Okay.

Yeah, I'm actually going to go down a similar path. I'll choose a different word. Vastappen should feel buoyed heading into the rest of the season for very similar reasons. I can't express enough. Vestappen's DNF at Italy might have been the best DNF we've seen in Formula One which sounds weird

but that was that was Mercedes to win that was a Mercedes 1-2 in the making if they nailed that weekend with Vastappan probably struggling to third versus the McLarence that wasn't a guarantee if we're looking at pure pace that was probably how the weekend should have gone

that was a Mercedes track historically been a Mercedes track and he yeah he weathered that storm and a nil nil monza was a win for vespan because there are going to be plenty more circuits coming up that are much more favourable to vestappen compared to mercedes you could almost put that in with spar as well obviously he he won half points at spar if that's dry it might well have gone similar to how we saw in monser practice where Mercedes run away with it again that didn't happen so He should feel confident.

He should feel Boyd. Yeah, Boyd. Thank you for that. The only reason I pick that word. Great one. Botties making an appearance. Come on, come on, but-bought. Valtry Bottas has a blank percent chance

of winning at Sochi. Of course, it's been a circuit where he has done quite well in the past. Yeah, the Palace of Botties. Lots of Botties, please. I'm all aboard the Botti, training as much as I've made the prediction that he will never win again. You know, come on the BOTE's.

The meme that he produced at Monsa, by the way, is one of the most spectacular Formula One memes we've seen in a long time. So, Bodies has a 50% chance of winning. 50. 5. Oh. Yeah, that's right, folks. The big figgy-figgy.

I'll give a little explanation as to why. So, you know, Soxie is. Gnome globally is the palace of Bostis for a reason. Just like Munger is the temper of speed, Sochi is the Palace of Botties because the man flies around the Olympic Stadium of Sokchi. It just works well for him. He is very comfortable a track that has zero personality to it. Oh, oh, Sam. Sorry. Sorry. Oops. Did I drop that one in there? Yeah, so, you know, Bosties in the Black Sea. Oh, that sounds like a good book or like an album. Anyway, he's quick round there, right?

He's quick round there. And he's also had his contract signed by Alpha now. So Botties is driving carefree. He hasn't really got the full commitment to Mercedes. So if I think, you know, I think if we get to kind of 10%, 20% left of the race, and I do think Mercedes will visit the last one, and they will comfortably lead the way, especially with the staff and having that three-place grip penalty now.

If Perez is fast, if Maccas are fast, say, Farrar. go well here, it's possible. I think the staff is going to have to cut through some traffic means that BOTS and Hamilton, if all things go to plan, we'll run away with it. But if we're about 15, 20% left of the race, if Bostis is in front, do I think that Bodies is actually

going to listen to Team Borgas this time? And this is where I think the 50-50 comes into it. I think it is a snap decision on if BOTAS goes, yep, I understand Hamilton, I want my pal Hamilton to win the championship, or does he go

I'm doing everything I need for the team I've got a dedication to the team to the end of the season and I want a win why would I not want a win to prove Sam wrong that's why I don't want a win I want to make sure that Sam's right in every occasion but in seriousness it makes a lot of sense for Botties to go

I'm taking this victory if I'm leading with 10, 15 maps ago and Hamilton's the only can't hear me so that's why I think it's 50-50 I think the only deciding factor is if Bottas who I think could definitely be leading in this race decides to listen to team orders I mean, we know BOTE's is a big fan of the podcast, has been for a while,

so I'm sure that motivation is definitely a factor. Come on, Botties. You're giving it a 50% chance he'll win. I see your 50%, you massive Bottas fan, and I'm going to go down from that. Yeah, I'm going to lower the tone. I'm going to go back down to 30% chance that Botas said. That's still good. Still pretty good, yeah.

So first of all, yeah, you've got, it's a good track for him. So I think if you take out, so Max Verstappen could still do pretty well, but given that he's got a three-place group penalty, there is a pretty good chance that he takes a new power unit and decides to start at the back or very near the bag. So that's going to limit his chances of potentially winning this race, which could see it as a direct fight between Hamilton and Valdry Bottas. Now I would say that in a normal fight between Hamilton and Valtrey Bottas, I would get Hamilton about a 75% chance of winning.

However, because this is Sochi, I'll lower that down to about a 60% chance that Hamilton would beat Bottas at Russia, giving Bottas the 40%. But then I'm also going to take another 5% or 10% off that because you can't completely discount crazy things happening. You can't discount Vestappan having a crazy comeback. You can't discount Perez completely either. So I think there are, it's not just a straight-up Mercedes fight in this. So I'm going to reduce it down to 30%. But I would say overall, that's a higher percentage than it is for most of the season, if not higher than any race so far this season.

I completely agree. There will not be a single other race on the entire calendar where Bottas will even come close to a 50-50 chance of winning for my predictions. So, soaking up, Bottas. enjoy it while it's there. I am worried though because as you know you have said

he will never win a race again which does extend further on this season but this season is probably going to be his best chance to win another race where a lot of races in now if he doesn't win at Sochi at that point I start to get worried if you imagine the scenes right

let's say it gets to the 2024, 2025 and Bottas is thinking I'm on my last legs a little bit here I'm going to retire and then we get like a hungry situation, a bowling strike, but ironically, Botas isn't the bowler. And like four or five races for the thing of his career, Bottas wins in like the seventh best car. I will fly me to the country and I'll give you the trophy. Because at that point, yeah, fair play to you, mate.

But unfortunately this season, this is the last chance where I think it could happen. All right, last fill in the blank. We've already discussed a few names that might appear in this topic, to be honest. but the last one is the F2 driver with the most potential to be a world champion is blank. I've already said the name and I think that, and I'm going to go down the route of all of these drivers

get a fair and simple route to F1. I feel like that's the most simple way of deciding this because otherwise you can look at, you know, easy driver moves, young driver programs, but if I'm just going to go in, they're great drivers, they get a chance on F1, at some point they will win a championship. Oscar Piastri is by far,

me the biggest shout. The man, you know, has done so well, so ridiculously well. And I was pretty shocked at how well he's done. I mean, I always agree he was very good, but I wasn't expecting such a bounce over most of the field. Of course, Guangzhou is the only person that is directly competitive with him at the moment in the points. Schwarzenegov is probably still in the mix a bit. But, considering that Guangzhou has been there for a couple of seasons now, hasn't won it. And this man's come up and gone long. I was at the top now. I was pretty impressed. The only other option for me is Liam Lawson. I think that Liam Lawson could also be a bit of an underdog and could achieve something

quite interesting in the long run. But yeah, for me, it's the boys from down under, obviously got from the same place. Don't crucify me, pleepal on the other hemisphere. Piaastri for me is the big shout. For me, there are two standout talents in Formula 2 that I think have world class potential. They are Oscar Piastri and Teoporchet. I don't think there are any other drivers that I think will get to that level.

I think Guanyu Jou has the potential to be solid in Formula One. I would say the same for a few other drivers as well. Liam Lawson, who you've already mentioned. Christian Lungar is a bit of a funny one. I think he's actually got perhaps just as much potential as the world champions, but he never seems to quite be able to cultivate it.

So I will limit it down to those two names, Piastri, I'm actually going to go for the other one. I'm going to go for Teo Porcier as the biggest potential for being a Formula One world champion. First of all, can be bear in mind. He turned 18 a month ago. It's terrifying.

The guy, just to put this into perspective, he was, he has not been alive for the majority of Michael Schumacher's wins, for the championship wins. born in August 03. That's terrifying. Anyway, he's young. That's the point. And he's already had so much success. 2018, first time of asking wins at F4 level.

Does a different F4 championship in 2019. Wins that one as well. First attempt at Formula 3, which he would have started at the age of 16, finished second, and then moves up to Formula 2 at the age of 17, and he's currently, I think, fifth in the championship and is doing a great job.

So for me, just based on, he's got a couple years on Piastri, who again, I think Piastri is a great talent. Don't disagree with that answer, but poor share for me, just based on what he's done in such a limited amount of time, frightening. You know, someone that I, a little while ago,

was expected to see big things of, and I think due to sponsorship, I think due to cast, due to just career moves, hasn't ever worked out for was sergeant who was obviously in that fight for that F3 title and never got an F2 drive it just came even materialising. I think maybe if he had got the move up

then maybe that could have been another game but I think unfortunately for him time is possibly slipping away which is a big shame for him but yeah that was going to be another game that maybe a couple of seasons ago if we've been looking at the junior formulas I would have possibly put down.

Yeah I think it's fair I always, um, with, he was with Pramer, obviously in Formula 3 and I always put a bit of a, uh, I always have a bit of a suspicious look, um, because Pramer tend to do very well in Formula 3, regardless of who they've got as their drivers. So I always put a bit of a, eh, how good are you really? Um, kind of face on. But yes, I think he, he is definitely, definitely talented. The other person I would put in that mix, who isn't actually being discussed for a seat as much as I fought a year ago he would be at this point, Robert Schwartzman. Yeah, yeah, correct.

I thought he'd kick on more this year. I thought Robert Schwartzman was going to absolutely dominate this season of F2. I thought that he was going, he was already spectacular last year, and I thought, that's scary. You know, a bit like the conversations we're having with Piastri and Porcée, I thought that's scary, he's that good. And he's just, like, he's been very good. There's no denying, he's still been very good.

He's, I think, third overall at the moment. and he is the person that probably could challenge the top two. But yeah, surprising that he isn't closer. I suppose he isn't leading the championship. Yeah, yeah. Like I say, I mean, he's absolutely fine. And he might well make it to Formula One, but I thought there'd be just a tab more this year.

But yeah. Don't usually get too much junior category talk, but there you have it, folks. We dig some. I got it's been asked for a couple of times in the Discord. We do pay attention to the lower, the lower regions. No, that's the lower formulas.

That's definitely the right word. Use that one. That's a bit awkward. Yeah, use that one. Also, F2, F3, change up your calendars. Don't be an idiot. Go back to two races a weekend. Come on, man.

You've ruined it. Anyway, that's enough ranting for one evening, I think. Good news is, ladies and gents, we will be back to three. LB Strong next week for the preview of Sochi. So good news all round. The three podcast droughts of a full LB trio. That will come to an end now.

But Sam, you wanted to mention the Patreon before we go and then just get us out of here. Yeah, so we've got quite a few Patreon members. Again, those who have already subscribed to that, a massive thank you for your support. You don't realize one, what it means to us and two, what it allows us to do.

It is incredible. So if you do want to join that, we've got a lot of benefits. There's a link in the description. Please go and check out those benefits for a couple of different tiers. The first Patreon event is happening this weekend. We felt, well, it's not a race weekend, but in LB world, we're going to make it a race weekend. So what's happening? We will be doing a Patreon-only watch-along of the 2012 Brazilian title showdown.

One of the greatest races, if not arguably the greatest race of all time. Formula One. If you haven't seen it, don't spoil it. Join the Patreon. Come and join us. It's going to be mega. You know, the titan, Sebastian, Vettel and Fernando alongside. Amongst with so many other legends of Formula One, the likes of Lewis Hamilton, of course, on the grid at that point.

Jensen Button, many, many others. Go heads ahead. And it is spectacular. It's a spectacular watch. Don't miss out on it. Come and give it a go. You can always unsubscribe, but we will massively appreciate your support, and it is going to happen. I believe, Ben, correctly from wrong, 7pm UK time on the Sunday, and we'll be sent

out the links to those involved in the Patreon, so you won't miss out, don't worry. We'd love to see you there. There's so many of you that listen to the podcast. We'd love to see a few more of you there. Thank you so much. If you've enjoyed any of the topics, I want to talk about it more, get in the Discord.

And as Ben said, we're going to be back to the Soxie preview where Botties comes home. Could it happen, folks? Could it prove me wrong? We'll have to see. In the meantime, I've been Samuel soon. And I've been Ben Hocking, and remember, keep breaking late.

Princess of Botties, Land. Next week.