The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Alonso thinks that Stroll is champion material - is he right?

Episode Date: February 12, 2023

Ben and Sam discuss Fernando Alonso's comments about Lance Stroll, as well Guenther Steiner's thoughts on another team entering F1. The Harry-less duo, also answer some of your questions! JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAm SUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebraking TWEET us @LBraking BUY our merch: https://late-braking-f1-podcast.creator-spring.com/ SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/lbf1 Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! 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 tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. Where is he? Where's Harry? I mean, the amount of time to that. boy, it's like a celebrity. You know, we get his time for a small amount of time,

and then he jets off to some, I don't know, famous meeting in the northern parts of the country, or is probably that he's swinging it up in Dubai with all the money stolen from the podcast or something like that. But the tradition is, if you are missing from a podcast episode, the other two people get to decide what it is you're actually doing.

So in Dubai, using our funds. Yeah. And I reckon he's using those funds to try and desperately get himself Beyonce tickets because his lovely lady does absolutely love Beyonce so I reckon that's what he's spending

all of our money on. In fairness, if he's actually using our money he wouldn't have made it to France, let alone Dubai, so you know, good luck to you, Harry. He's actually in passing sat on the side of the road. He's actually in Leeds,

but do you know what also begins with L? Late Breaking Light. The night IP versions are here. He's the free version. And he's to pay to unlock it. Oh, he's going to be editing this and shaking his head right now. Honestly, you two are a couple of more. What do you think?

Do you think I don't listen to this when I edit it? Plonkers. We've got another great episode for you. We are back properly two times a week now forever. or at least for the rest of this year, but we'll say forever, we'll be ambitious about that. We're going to be taking some questions from our audience. So there's a good variety of questions in there, both relating to F1 and most certainly not F1, but we'll get to those later in the show.

We'll also be discussing Gunter Steiner's comments about an 11th F1 entry. And we're going to kick off with words by one Fernando Alonzo. Oh, Alonzo. He likes a good comment, doesn't he? speaking recently ahead of the new season, speaking to Aston Martin as part of a website piece, and he made the following comment. In Lance, the team has a driver who is super young, super talented,

and has the possibility to be world champion. To see him achieve that and have played a part in that, whether that's behind the wheel or not, will be special for me. Sam, what's Alonzo's motive here? What's his game? Oh, hearing it. What's the funny thing about the quote is,

if you were to listen to the quote, but as he was saying it, you know, when it got to license his name, you just hear the word redacted. You would be able to apply it to maybe four or five of his previous teammates. And you can go back and look through press reports

and find something very similar about a lot of those teammates. Go as far back as Lewis Hamilton and McLaren, right? Go back and go, Lewis Hamilton, young rookie joining up with Fernando Alonkso. It's very exciting to see a youngster with so much talent, join him in the team, and he believes that he could go on to achieve things. Okay, cool. Skip forward.

Philippe Massa, you know, very young, upcoming driver, had that great opportunity to possibly win a world title. He could be a world champion. I believe he could go on to achieve big things. Let's move to McLaren. Stoffel Van Dorm. He could go out to achieve big things, young, exciting driver. Moves to Alpine, very exciting young drive,

could go on to achieve big things. Now is with Lunt. He does it to look good for the team. morale of his teammate. He likes to sweeten the deal a little bit. Fernando who hasn't caught on that this is just words right now? And Fernando will leave you sobbing in a corner

wanting the man back, wishing that you can have what you now can't have. He's a heartbreaker of Formula One and he's going to love you and then he's going to leave you and it's going to feel like ripping your heart and soul out. The man knows how to play the field. The only person that still bloody likes him is Jackson Button

because he was older than him when they joined up as teammates. So that's how that works, you've just got to be older than Fernando to essentially be his best mate. I think that's the way it works. Larks is just, it's a media piece. It looks good for the team. That is simply it. Yeah, and you say you could have a look at all the press reports from his previous teammates. I thought, yeah, I might actually go ahead and do that. So if you look at our Twitter at L. breaking, you'll see at least a couple of snippets from articles over the years that include Fernando Alonzo being very complimentary about.

his teammates. And you might be thinking we're being harsh on Alonzo here and he's just being nice, but come on now. There's more to it than that. You can respect it with a few of the teammates that he's mentioned. Felipe Massa was a great driver. I don't, you know, he was very close to winning a world championship. He was arguably the closest person to ever win a world championship that didn't based on what happened in Brazil. Apologies to any Massa fans that I've triggered there. And there are a couple of other teammates he's had as well where you could say the same thing. But he's also had some teammates where you probably can't say the same thing, yet he still has.

No disrespect whatsoever to Tarsot Marquez. Apologies, I've come out a bit hard on Brazilians already in just five minutes into this episode. Oh, we're offending another nation. But, I mean, Tarso Marquez, no disrespect to the man, but I don't think a world championship was ever on the table. When he was very complimentary, was Alonzo about Marquez's pace back from their debut year in, back from his debut year in Menardi. And even, you mentioned Stoffel Van Dorn. I mean, Van Dorn is one of the drivers that probably deserved a better shot in Formula One. And I think he was better than what he showed in his limited time in F1. But again, you've got to

temper these sorts of things. Firstly, I will say, actually, what Alonzo says, saying here is, I think, technically true in the, and I think a few other people made this comment as well, if you were to get the ideal scenario for about 17, 18 drivers on the grid, they could probably win a world championship. Now, you'd have to go quite a long way down the list of improbable circumstances to get there, I think, for Lanchstrol, but technically it probably exists. Aston Martin come out with an absolute blinder of a car that blitzes every other team out

of the water and Fernando Alonso suffers a season ending injury halfway through the year. In that very specific circumstance, okay, he could win a title. But it's such an improbability that it doesn't really matter.

And we know that we know that Fernando Alonzo is not saying this because it's what he thinks. It's vintage Alonzo. He's done it his entire. career. And he's not deluded, as some people were suggesting. He's not silly. He knows what he's doing and he knows what he's saying isn't really true. I don't think it's a motivational technique as well. It is just to make him look as good as he possibly can. And he's done his entire career. The more you big up your teammate, the better you look when you beat him, which is what Alonzo has done for

the majority of his career. And if he can keep management happy, who just so happens to be Lansdroll's dad, if you can keep him happy at the same time as making that sort of comment for your own personal game, great, they're happy. You get to do what you want to do. Why wouldn't you go ahead and do it? Alonzo is a, he's a really special talent. He's a lone wolf more than anything. And when he's gone, I personally will miss him immensely as a character. But yeah, we know what he's playing at here, don't we?

You wouldn't want to be Fernando Alonso's teammate. There are several people on the greed, you know, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso. They're probably the three that if you said, you can have anyone as your teammate, who you're going to choose, those three off the list. They're so quick at everything they do.

They're so talented at every single point of racing, not just outright speed, qualifying, the ability to be consistent, manage tyres, the ability to, when a race is chaotic, get through the chaos. They know every point. They're so intelligent in the car. And then they're also charming to cameras. They're brilliant at PR work. They're savvy. They're brilliant at building a brand. So when you're Lance Strull, when your Stoffel Van Dong, when your massa coming off the back of that absolute chaotic event with Lewis Hamilton, a business.

course at Brazil, and you get someone like Fernando Alonso plonked next to you, who a lot of people, despite only winning two world titles, think he could be one of the greatest of all time, sits down next to you and he goes, this young, insert young driver's name here, has got the capability of being a world champion. If I'm that driver, I'm going, yeah, Fernando, if you're not my teammate, because I've got to be in the top 0.401% of drivers of all time to realistically beat you if we've got a race, well, in car. Because do you think really, Fernando's come out, Lars is great, he could be world champion one day, I'd love to be a part of that.

Whether I'm behind the wheel or not, big caveat, whether I'm behind the wheel, do you really think that Fernando also, if he's behind the wheel in the same car as Lantz Stroll or something that is world title capable, Fernando is it going to absolutely shaft Lant Stroll at every single corner to make sure that he gets team preference, he gets priority, he's first on the track, his pit stop comes first, the strategy is his, the set up is his. Fernando, as you said, Ben, is a lone wolf. He's driven to do everything that lets him win at the final turn. Yeah, Locustrol, sure, might be world champion. Fernando said, not when I'm in the sport, baby, not when we've got the car to win. There's no way

that Fernando ever lets that happen, regardless of how nice, nice he may seem to management. And if your management, how have you ever looked at this and gone, that is so genuine from Fernando. I'm not calling Fernando a bad person. I'm not saying he's horrible. But how, yeah, what a delightful young soul. Let's bring him home to mum and have some cooking with him because he means every word he's saying. You've got, you know, you've had the wall. You've had the wall pulled over your eyes.

If you think that Fernando Alonso, as men, every word that's come out of his mouth. And I think, Lance, despite him not being the quickest driver on the grid, he's not stupid. Surely you've got a look at this with his PR team and go, that's nice. I appreciate it being nice. But come on, come on, Fagando. I know what you're saying.

and I think management has surely got to have that same point of view surely no one's sat there going what a lovely thing to say and I hope that they haven't because Fernando's out for himself just like every other F1 driver is out for themselves

they want to be world champion and you're oblivious or silly if you think that that is the case is the difference of that so well done Fernando you've done it again but I can't see this one really standing true

I just hope you don't absolutely destroy this relationship like you have done with a multitude of others I always think with Fernando Alonzo, it's a case of 99% of F1 drivers would just about do anything to win, apart from with Alonzo where you don't need the just about before it. Like he will do anything to win. So what you're saying in terms of playing nice on track,

he's the last person you'd think of when you'd consider that sort of relationship. You alluded to it in terms of Lance Stroll and his potential. reaction, but how do you think he responds to this? Do you think he pays much attention to it? Has he been an F1 long enough to see what he's doing here? What do you think? I mean, if you're like Stroll, you'd be stupid not to be learning from these people you're sat next to him. He's had quite a strong calibre of drivers to race alongside, right? Felipe Massa, multiple race winner, almost world champion. Sebastian Vettel, four-time, you know, yeah, certainly, well, you know, I'm not.

saying it's all creme delacrem. Sebastian Vettel there, four-time world champion, one of the most successful racing drivers of all time. Now for that, for Andy O'Logsso, successful two-time world champion, has a great dance on him, and multiple world champion. If you're not picking up any tips, tips, tricks, learning advice from these people, firstly,

you're a fool. You are a fool of a man, if you're not, you know, absorbing that. Little reference there if everyone gets it. And I just think that realistically, he's still young enough that he could be absorbing all of these techniques, all of these abilities. On track, obviously to the public, he's going to go, that's lovely. I look forward to working with Fulando.

You need to ignore that. Don't worry about what he's saying to the public. Unless he comes out and goes, Fernando, you're a liar, you're a fool, I hate you, go away, I'm going to beat you. Then, okay, we'll give it some attention. But realistically, he's going to come out and be polite and go, that's lovely. I respect Fulando and look up to him, you know, very much so. On track, Lance, learn everything, and then absolutely serve it back to Fulandum.

though, like he's never had a taste of his own medicine. Slap him round the face with the whole jar, if you need to get the point across. You are there to fight match his pace. Fight every corner with him. Be, you know, respectful. Don't literally put him in the wall like you have done with some other teammates. But, you know, put your foot down and go,

I'm not just the only son who's got a racing seat and, you know, I'm paying my way. Earn his respect and fight for every moment. And I think that's the way you get a hang of Fernando. That's why I think Fernando and Jensen, got along so well. Fagando really respects Jenksson and his racing ability

and his racing heritage of where he's come from and most of us still actually mates, and you see it when they interview each other and they talk to each other, right? They're pals. That's how you do it. And I mean, Alonzo couldn't

mentally dominate button. To your point earlier about age and experience, that was never an option. It wouldn't have worked, whereas it can work on many of the other drivers that we've mentioned. You make a lot of good points in that,

but I'm obviously going to pick apart just the main most important thing you said there or didn't say, which was callously not including Sergei Sorokkin in that list of great drivers that strollers. Sorry, Sirotkin outqualified stroll more in his year than Betel did to stroll in their first year together. So, you know, that's all I'll say on that. I actually wanted to pick up on the second part of the quote that is included, which was essentially saying about how to see him achieve that and have played a part in that,

whether that's behind the wheel or not, would be special for me. So it feels as if he's alluding to a career after driving. At least that's how I read that. You know, he's talking about helping stroll to win a world championship, but not necessarily being there as a teammate in order to do it, which would imply there's some other role. that he's got scoped up for the future that perhaps he wants to do.

I think it's good to hear that Alonzo is perhaps looking towards the future. We're uncertain how this is going to play out, obviously, but at least Alonzo indirectly admitting that one day this will come to an end in terms of this driving career and this excellent driving career that he's had. but there has to be that appreciation that the hunger that Alonzo has, at least in my opinion, will always be there. He'll just have to find another avenue in which to go down in order to, if he can't physically do it driving-wise, he'll probably pick something else but still strive to be the best.

Would you agree with that? Yeah, I mean, Fernando Alonkso, as I've always said, as you've already said as well, lone wolf, hungry, determined, and I've said, you know, out of all of all, all the people on the grid that you've want to work with, Fulando Alonso is possibly the last because he's so determining his own right to succeed. And obviously, as a driver, that is at your expense. If you're another driver on the grid or in his team, that comes at your expense. You have to pay the price for Fernando Alonso's success.

And he is okay with that. You know, the quote from Shrek, some of you may die, but that is a risk I'm willing to take from Lord Farquard, one of the best lines of all of film. Pick number three, my lord. That is, pick number three, me Lord. Honestly, hilarious. But Fernando Oloxo is essentially

Lord Farquark, right? Oh, man. Not with the hype, but with the beard and the hair. That's an Instagram post way to happen, is God. My point here is, right, Fernando Alonkso is willing to sacrifice everything

that is yours and his to get to the very top. He will let you go at a moment's notice if it means that he can step on your shoulders to succeed again and again and again. What worries me about this, point of view is as a driver, I think it makes total sense. I praise it. I applaud it. I think it's right. I think the likes of Max Verstappen, Sanger, Hamilton, Schumacher, they all have that point of view, right? Yeah, it's nice to have a good teammate, but I will beat you. I will beat you at every

cost. And they are the ones that go on to be hugely successful. Now, if you flip that on its head as, I don't know, another role within racing, that isn't a driver, team boss, driver coach, something like that. Does that make for a positive working, does that make you a happy member of staff? And I'm not just talking about drivers. You know, let's say he becomes team principal of Ferrari in 10 years' time.

Good Lord. Are you going, right, I know, terrifying prospect. But do you go, oh God, I made a mistake, Fernando's coming down the bloody corridor to talk to me? Are you looking forward to that conversation? Or are you thinking, yes, I can learn from this. And next time I'll do better. Are you going, he's literally going to rip my head off?

and I no longer have a career anymore because it wasn't the best that he could produce. In his mind, everything Fernando does is perfect. As a team boss or as a team member, that scares me. I don't know how well he'll join up with other members of a team. Look at how he's burnt bridges with teams in the past. It's not being a cohesive, positive experience in a lot of teams he's been with. And that's with the personnel within the team. So I like that he wants to be in racing going forward.

He's got his own carting, institution, essentially. And it's successful. He's running it well, but I think other people are running it with his advice, with his blessing, with his investment. You know, it worries me how he might act hands on with these people, these personalities. So love to see him in sport, always want him to be around. Never want him to leave. I adore him. But I don't know how well he would work within a team of people where he is not the absolute focal point of that, you know, all those efforts.

Yeah. Because like I said, I don't think the hunger to win will ever go from. Fernando. It's always the case with those sorts of guys, not even F1 drivers, those sorts of people where the hunger to win will always be there. Think of NFL reference. Tom Brady has very recently retired for the second time, so maybe this one will actually stick. But he's been the best quarterback in the NFL for over 20 years and won Super Bowls once every two years or so. but he's not retired, he hasn't lost what makes him him. Like he hasn't lost his desire to win.

There's just been, it's time for that chapter of his career to come to win in. And now he's going to win in business. And he's going to win in broadcasting next year as well. He wants to be the best at something else. I think Alonzo will be exactly the same thing. But I'm 100% with you that in terms of management, I can't quite see it. It has never been the case that great drivers or great sports people make great managers has never been. Sometimes it happens, but one doesn't lead to the other.

It never has done. Louder is probably the only obvious example, I think. Sure. I mean, in F1 terms, right? Think Alan Prost. Prost as a driver versus Prost as a team owner. I know which one I'm taking. Yeah. Think of like Diego Maradonna or Bobby Charlton.

Massive names in, now going back to British football, massive names, right? But they weren't good managers and they were not good managers. Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan won 66% of his games as a player. He's currently won 41% of his games as an owner, one of the worst owners in the league. it doesn't translate. And I don't know where Alonso is going to fit in, whether it's Aston Martin or elsewhere, but there will, I think, have to be a change in style for it to work,

depending on what he wants. Can someone please put together a YouTube drama or, you know, Amazon, if you're listening, I assume you are, of a Fernando Alonso style going on a managerial training course, please, and watching him go through, you know, watching the YouTube presentations, having to fill out the forms at like a little white desk and a weird, like, room probably in like stoke or somewhere

that you sit and do one of these training courses and just miserable, because it would be hilarious to try and watch him just do a standard British managerial training course. This employee is really struggling. What do you do to help? Shout to him, why isn't he working hard enough for me? It just come out and go with. Exactly.

Well, someone make that skip, please. Alonzo in a training course. And whilst you do that, we're going to take a short break. We'll be discussing Gunderster Steiner's comments on the other side of it. At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made-to-measure growth and expansion advice. And we can talk your ear-off about transferring your business when the time comes.

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Eligibility restrictions apply. See golden nuggett casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. Gunter Steiner has made some comments about an 11th, a prospective 11th entry within Formula One that we're going to get to in a moment. Just a heads up if you're listening to this. You can watch this. This will be on YouTube. This is our special YouTube segment of the week, which I'm sort of sound.

Sam is working on a jingle for any second now. But to get to Gunter Steiner, as that seems more important here, he said the following, if you put an 11th team in, and if you get a little bit of a dip in the economy or something, all of a sudden it's all there. People may be struggled to survive. So why take that risk if there is no upside? An 11th team, what upside is it bringing?

It's not for me to decide. It's for FOM to decide. But if there is no upside in the moment for an 11th team to come for the other teams, there is just risk, no benefit. No risk, sorry, risk, but no benefit, Sam. Do you think he's just protecting the interests of Hass when he's saying this? I mean, if someone maybe like Ferrari came out and said this, or the Seguis came out and said this, who have achieved,

I mean, Ferraris haven't won world titles recently, but, you know, they're not exactly non-achievers. They won races recently. They have won world titles. In theory, yes. You know, throughout history, they're quite successful. Haast on the other hand in Formula One, not so. Look at Haas' background here, right?

And look at the team that is in discussion to be the team that is succumbing and feel that a level spot, because I think that's important as well. Hars have had one pole position. That is pretty much the height of their success, apart from maybe both of their cars losing both their wheels in the space

for about six laps around the Australia Grand Prix. That also was quite impressive, and I commend it to do that one. Yeah, quite shameful to watching how you're looking at it back with everything. It's quite funny at the same time. You know, Hars also claimed to be America's F1 team. Go check out on their social media bio. It's in there.

And I, you know, called them last week impostors for that reason. Now look at the team coming in, right? Adretti Kagalak, huge American giants of sport, of racing, of production of cars, not just within autosport or motorsport, but within actual automation of vehicles. or the creation of how you drive your car, kind of giants of that industry. Now, I think that takes away from America's identity. I think if you pair that with what Christian Horger came out and said,

and I commend Christian for saying this, and he came out and said, you have to question what some of the teams are already bringing to the sport, the value that they're bringing to the sport. What are hars bringing to the sport? They sit at the back of the grid. The sponsors they bringing are minimal and relatively unheard of. The value they're bringing to commercial,

rights to maybe sponsorship from another nation to TV time. What's it adding up to really when you compare it to Reg Bull with Max Verstappen or, you know, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, or even just Ferrari themselves, in comparison, what a harsh bringing? And I think it was quite a dangerous comment from Gunther because to turn around and say to someone, it's only risk, they only bring risk when you're talking about a business that is larger than you, more successful than you, has a larger business outside of motorsport, then what you have to go, they don't bring anything to this sport.

It's a bit cheeky and it's a bit daring. And I think Gunter is playing with fire a little bit because I think people who are not happy with how the 10 teams' only direction is going are going to maybe look at this and go, well, let's now look at what the teams at the back of the grin are doing, what are Alfa Tower are doing,

what are Haas doing? I hate to say it, but what are Williams doing? You know, there are teams at the back that are being at the back for a while. what do they bring to this sport that Andretti Kaganat maybe could be bringing and will bring. So I think it's pretty daring for good to come out of the state.

This is obviously trying to protect Haas. It's obviously trying to keep the teams as profitable as possible. Hars need that money. We know they barely reach the cost cap at the moment. So they want the cash. They want the prize fund money. They want the TV rights money. Andretti coming in could immediately jump above them in the grid,

take more money off them and that's what they want. I think it's selfish. I think you need to just get good. son and bait the competition around you. Ben, what do you think? I agree with pretty much everything you said there. Firstly, a bit of a disclaimer. I don't place any blame on Gunter Steiner for saying this. We've discussed this on the podcast a few times, not necessarily Goodster Steiner's comments, but comments from other team bosses, from the likes of Toto Wolf, who share very similar

opinions to what Gunter Steiner is saying here. And each time I've said, I don't blame the team boss or the individual saying this because they are ultimately protecting their own interests, which is understandable. Ultimately, the team boss for each team is not there to advance Formula One as a whole. That's Formula One's job. That's FOM's job. And ultimately, I think it's Formula One management's issue and their weakness in terms of letting the teams have too much power. and ultimately we've said it before. They shouldn't have a say in who comes in to Formula One. It should be a case-by-case basis made by Formula One with the sports best interests at heart,

not the team's best interest. But that's not Steiner's job. That's not Steiner's job. That's not the job of anyone else who might be saying something similar to this. I think there is a vulnerability with HASS, mainly for the reasons that you've just said, Sam, in that it's not just HASS.

There are other teams probably lower down the grid as well, which will also be in this spot. But at the moment, it's about leverage. Everyone is aware that F1 can't really afford to go down to nine teams. 18 drivers on the grid feels, I mean, we're all saying 20 probably isn't enough, but 18, that would be a real struggle, I think, for Formula 1. So with the teams actively aware of that, they have got a bit of leverage as a result.

Think of how Hasse came into the sport. You know, Hasse came into the sport where there were 11 teams, but two were also on the verge of crumbling in the form of manner and catering. So, you know, you had both of those teams potentially going down the toilet and Hasse came along to save F1 from potentially going down to nine teams. At the moment, it seems as if all the 10 teams that are on the grid are pretty stable, it doesn't look as if any are within a year or two. of going under. So that's why I think the F1 teams at the moment have more power than is good for F1. And certainly with, again, this is a point you made about HAS being the only US entry at the moment, that's their other form of leverage.

So if you're HASS and you've got two things that you can say puts us in a powerful spot in that F1 won at least 10 teams and F1 would like a US entry, they really, both of those bits of leverage going as a result of Andretti Catalac coming along, because Andretti Cadillac is a far bigger name in the US than Hasse's. So I can completely understand here why Gunther Steiner is saying this, whether it, I don't think it's good for F1 that he's saying it. And I don't think that if it went the way he wants it to go, I don't think that's good for F1 either.

But it's understandable from Hasse and Hasse's only perspective that he would go. that way. Realistic, if you go back to the quote, there's a lot of, it's a lot of what ifs, isn't it? What if the economy? What if the economy struggles? I don't know what you think. But surely, you can't base this on just what ifs, right? Well, if you base life on what if you'll never get anything done.

You know, what if I step up my front door today and a piano drops on my head from a plane flying over the, you know, I'd never get anything done. I would sit here in this chair forever. And I could say, what if his chair breaks? And I fall backwards and get my head on the wall. You know, you live life of fear. Imagine if Bernie had that. Yeah.

Imagine if Bernie had that philosophy. Yeah, no, you're right. It's probably a tent for the size it is right now. Bernie went out and I don't praise Bernie. I don't enjoy Bernie. I don't think Bernie should get. But the one thing that Bernie did well was take risk. He went out there and he put his foot down and he said controversial things and he made

decisions that maybe didn't immediately benefit the most obvious people. But he grew this sport into what Liberty came and then took over, right? And he's an awful person, but in terms of a business mindset, he knows what he's doing. And I think that Formula One management, Liberty, they need to come out and they need to, they need to give something essentially back to the teams to barter with them. You know, we give you X, then you give us Y. And I think what they need to do is go, we are going to putting some rule sets that mean that one, Formula One, to have 12 teams on the grid. You're like, again, I'm going to use a football reference,

but the Premier League has 20 teams. That doesn't change. You know, if a team were to go out of business all of a sudden, they would allow a team, I believe, to come up to fill a 20th slot. You know, you get an extra promotion all the way up the football pyramid that allow for the teams to become 20. The rule set is 20 teams. Now, I believe that Formula One should go will allow 12 teams

and we're going to increase the prize fund. And you could say this by Formula One management by going, look at the expansion into these territories. allowing us to have increased revenue, which allow for increased profit. And by doing that, we're going to put back some of the money that we're making into the sport to increase that prize fund. But you have to sign up on us having the power to say yes or no to teams coming in or out.

The first of those being, and Greta Cagallack, and then that means we've got one space free, and the maximum that full one will ever have is 12 teams. And I think that you can go, right, with increased the prize fund, you're getting more money. The sport grows as a, you know, a premium. it grows as a consequence of that happening. And I think you'd be silly. I don't really see how the teams have got so much power over a billion dollar enterprise

that is the Formula One management, that is liberty. It needs to alter. Otherwise, I think we're going to stagnate, and I think the sport is going to come to a big of a headlock here, a crossroads, where no one could get anything done. And until a company that goes bankrupt or gets bored or Formula One, we won't see anything new happening. And that can be really detrimental,

because you could find yourself in a position where let's say in fantasy world, Mercedes go bankrupt, it's not going to happen, but, you know, in a fantasy world it does, they drop out the sport with left wing nine. What if this is in three years' time,

just after the new engine rule set comes in, and everyone goes, well, I don't want to join now. It doesn't suit us financially. It doesn't suit us technologically to join the sport. And for all now, as you said, Ben,

with 18 teams. And the grid looks a bit sparse. It looks a bit empty. You're not playing for as much. So you need to make sure you're capitalizing on the good and not only reacting when times are tough. And I think Haas maybe

maybe need to give their heads a little bit of a wobble and go, we could benefit from there being more interesting America. We could grow our brand by the North American cycle of Formula One being even bigger. Come up with a deal with liberty

that if you do any kind of marketing enterprise, hars are the team that gets to put their car there or their drivers there. Surely there's something that you could be doing in the background that you benefit from this overall growth. You're silly if you think not. And I think that, like you said,

Gunter is right to defend his brand. But I think for the world of Formula One, this is a very negative point of them to happen. And I completely understand that it's a hard sell because the F1 teams can turn around and say this is where F1 was in say 2016 with 10 teams. This is where F1 is now still with 10 teams and we've witnessed this growth without the need to add anyone else in. And they might well think, well, let's just carry on with that for the next five years,

grow it more and we don't need another team to share the prize pot with. I understand the logic behind it, but I do think it's a bit short-sighted. I think that there is more. There's way more to be had when it comes to Formula One, and there are entries out there. Andretti Cadillac is obviously the most pressing one, but there are prospective entries out there that could expand F1's reach even further, which is ultimately great for everyone if it works. Yes, there's risks attached, but as you rightly say, Sam, if we try to eliminate risk from absolutely everything, nothing would get done. And if the economy, if the economy starts to struggle more,

is a massive if that isn't really based on anything. It's just it might happen. It's not even, it might happen, and here's three reasons why it's incoming. It's just it might happen, which is incredibly vague. It doesn't really help. And ultimately, you're right to question the current team's on the grid. And I actually ask them, flip the script on this. what are they providing? I'd tell you what, if you were to, and there are teams, all teams at the moment,

pretty much, are showing solidarity on this. They're all in the same boat. They all think roughly the same thing, which is, for anyone who's been listening, been watching Formula One for a long time, is an absolute rarity.

It's incredibly rare that the teams are all aligned on something. But the reality is, the teams might think that they're all in this together, some sort of camaraderie, I guarantee you, if you were to eliminate Hass and just go to the other nine teams and say, we're going to have a secret meeting without Hass, and you were to offer them this, Hass are out, Andretti Cadillac are in, you'll get the 200 million or whatever it is in terms of the new entry buying. Do you want to make it happen?

Do you think, can you confidently say that they're all in the spirit of camarader going to turn around and say, no, we're with Hasse on this, they would in a heartbeat give it. They're committed to a number, these F1 teams. They don't want to share the price part amongst 11 teams. They want to keep it at 10. Do you think they care what 10 that is? They're going to pick the, they want the 10 that's going to get the most revenue. And Andretti Cadillac has a far better chance of achieving that than has to.

So if Hasse think that they're all in this together, I don't think you are. Yeah, it would be like, you know, someone coming to you and me and saying Harry's out, but Ben Stiller is coming in. Finally. Yeah, I know, right. You know, do you want that to happen? Harry doesn't know about it. And we, you know, there'll be a little part of us that go, well, you know, there's a lot of good things about Ben Stiller.

That's true. That is the one negative I can think of. Maybe we have to call you the Hocking and call him for Stiller. And that would be the way we get. For the sake of Ben Stiller, I can give up my name. That's fun. I think we're talking semantics here. My point is,

possibly. Right? He comes with a lot of positives, as do I'm Dreddy Kagalak. And I'm not calling Harry the Haas of late breaking, but the point stands that, you know, if an American celebrity giant came in, maybe I take a back seat for a minute to get that exposure.

The point is there's a lot to gain, and you're stooping if you can't find an angle to make it work for you financially, in marketing, in growth. You know, use it to your advantage. should just hide away. I think that's what a lot of the teams are doing. As always, very interested to hear your thoughts on this.

So, as usual, just let us know exactly what you think. Is Gunter Steiner out of line with his comments here? Or do you understand where he's coming from? We're going to take a short break. And then we'll be back with some questions that we'll be answering. Okay, welcome back. We decided with the new season just around the corner, thank goodness, that we'd ask, yeah,

we'd ask our Discord server for some questions ahead of the new year that we will happily answer now. As expected, really, there's a mixture of, now I can hear the singing, Sam. Oh, hold on, I'll have to tell it'll be quiet. No, I love this.

Do you, it's going to be very annoying for a rug in the background. Hold on, everyone. Two sex. Rosie is a wonderful singer. maybe some exclusive Patreon content in coming. Here's a funny backstory, folks. There's a reason why she is singing at that loud. Our neighbours decided to come home at 2 o'clock

multiple times in the last week and have woken us up with shouting through the war. Oh, that's not on. It's not on. So she has decided that she is going to... She keeps on my side every day. I love that man. But we've decided that we're going to be putting our speaker

against the wall that is joined and singing while we do everything. just to irritate them throughout the day. It's very petty. But I'm that kind of man. I will sink that low. Fight fire with fire. Yeah. Love that. Where were we? Questions. So, yeah, there's a real mixture of actually some serious questions

and some darn right stupid questions as well. Good. As you would expect from our Discord server. Let's start with a serious one, because we at least need to try and protect. that we actually have some integrity on this show. Let's start with cup a copy. Good name.

What do you think about the idea of racing with no-coms outside of emergencies and safety? What do you think of the idea of racing with no-coms and which drivers and or teams would excel? Well, firstly, cup of copy, great name, as Ben said. I love a bit of alliteration of a name as I am Samuel Sage, I think it always flows well off the tongue. So, no comms, apart from an emergency situation.

I can't get behind this one for me. We saw not something similar, but in the same vein a little while ago, do you know how long you've been watching Formula One, where essentially was the same, really? Yeah, yeah. Essentially, team orders and team conversation was really stripped down that you could only talk about things like, you know, coming into box, if there was an incident on track,

like you see, safety emergencies, things like that. You couldn't give moment by moment tracking and what drives are doing lap times, you know, things like that. And it caused a lot of issues because it wasn't laid out clearly shock. The FIA didn't set the rules out as clearly as they could, and people didn't really know if they were breaking the rules or following the rules. But also, it took away from the enjoyment of watching the sport. It was almost like a layer of the sport was a room.

It's like having a Victoria sponge cake, and you're just taking off the top layer of sponge. So you see what the bottom sponge and the cream and jam. You know, and it's still nice, don't get me wrong. I still would enjoy eating it, but you put that top layer back on, and I really enjoy it. I'm having a lovely time, right? So for me, removing comms, I lose a bit of personality, I lose a bit of the drama behind it. I like to hear what the drivers are thinking, what the teams are thinking, where the strategy is

going on the fly. That is a really cool part of Formula One for me, and I think that you think, okay, how do we change the sport? That might be exciting. And then you actually put it into practice, and I think you lose a very core element of the sport. in terms of teams that will thrive, Ferrari popped to mind. They haven't got the confusing strategy calls coming over the radio. I actually feel the likes of LeCler as science could go,

I'm going to come in now and my tyres don't feel very good. And I think just them making the calls would probably be good. Maybe they should just do it anyway. Yeah, just go, shut up, engineers, I'm just coming in. You know, like when LeCleur had an issue in Brazil with Qualified, where he was like, do I stay out for another lap on my interns or should I come in? He should have just gone, I'm the one driving the car, I'm coming in. Anyway, so I think Ferrari would actually really thrive in that environment.

So maybe it should go ahead for them. Whereas I think the likes of the Mercedes-Messon actually would struggle. I think Lewis Hamilton especially really enjoys a lot of feedback with Bono. I think he likes knowing how lap times are going. He likes going the distance between cars. And you might see someone like Hamilton go, I don't know where I am on the track. And it might be very interesting to see someone who's been so prolific, maybe struggle in that environment.

So that's what I think, Ben? What do you think? Yeah. So I think what you're referring to where we kind of had this was, I'm trying to think, when it worked, pretty about seven years ago, something else about. Yeah, I was going to say 16. Yeah, 16 or so. I can't remember the exact year that it was.

And you're right, Sam, that it worked better on paper than it did in reality. And I understand the logic of it because really F1, I always describe it as a pie. we're really going, we're going baking with these analogies here. But I always try and describe it as a pie in terms of, what do you want to equal winning in Formula One? Like, what should go into that pie? And I've always said that I think, at least pre-cost cap, money was too big of a component of that pie.

And there are a few other things as well. And I think that the driver ability should be a far bigger slice of the pie than what it is currently, because if you're not in the right team, you're not going to win. It's always been the case in F1. If we can get to a point where it's not that, great. So I understand the logic of this because this, in effect, increases the reliance on the driver in order to win. The problem is, whilst I think that the likes of money should have a far less say in the overall case of winning, I don't think that should be the case for strategy. I think it should be a really important component

and it is a very important piece of the Victoria Sponge that Sam is talking about. Spongake references. I'm rolling with it. Yeah, so I don't think it's a good idea just based on that, but I understand the logic of it. As to who would do best,

I feel like the more experience you've got, the better you'd be as a general rule. I could imagine the likes of Kevin Magnuson would probably quite like this. this. He's always talking about how he wish as he was an F1 driver in the 50s. Well, if this rule went ahead, it'd be a step closer to that. So maybe he'd do well.

But overall, I agree with you in terms of better in theory than it is in reality. Good question, though. Well, that's enough of the serious ones. Brexit beef as a question. Hello. Hello. What's your favourite vegetable? Oh!

This is really hard. Carrot is up there. I think a well-roasted carrot with a roastinger is lovely. I also think broccoli has just got a top shout of being the best vegetable. Ben, any shouts? I mean, I'm with you with carrot. I would probably actually say my answer is carrot. Broccoli, man, just go out and eat a tree.

It's easier. Oh, you're like Kevin in the office. when they force the broccoli into his mouth and he's like, am I eating it right? He eats it stumping first, got the leaf in. Like, I'm a broccoli, they're nice. Nah, I'm not a fan of broccoli. I probably go carrot on that.

Right, next question. From Bungers. Our old friend Bungers, I very much hope we'll be hearing more of Bungers throughout 2023. He's asked the question, what driver would you give a second chance to? Oh, crikey. Have you got one?

because I know you being you have noted these down. I might have to think about this one. I've got one in my mind. Yeah. Why don't you kick us off? I'll have a quick think. All right. Well, ironically, there's a driver

that we've already discussed on today's podcast. I think Stoffel Van Dorn probably didn't get a fair shot in F1, and I think he was far better than his results ever implied he was. The other driver, I've said this for probably about five years now, and it might have got to the point where it's not going to happen anymore. Maybe there was no chance it was ever. going to happen. But John Eric,

Vern, I think was a very solid F1 driver. He's obviously done very well in Formula E since he's transitioned over. But yeah, he was right there with Daniel Ricardo in those Toro Rosso days. He beat Danny Kaviyat in their one year together as well.

And his reward was losing his seat at the end of that year, which always felt harsh, whereas Kviat got a promotion. So, yeah, I would go Vern and Van Dahl. as the two that immediately spring to mind. I'm sure there's others, though. Yeah, I mean, Vern was the one when you started speaking that came to mine. We'll speak on the, it's not spelt with a V, but it sounds like it should have a V.

We'll go down the Vern concept of Verline. I do think that speaking of Formula E as well, like doing quite well of it, Pascal was rapid in the back of the grid days. And he was almost, it's on that same trajectory as Ocon. And I'm not saying that he could go out and be a world champion, but I think Pascal Verline had the capabilities to be a very steady strong midfield driver in Formula One and definitely could have being a

you know a Mercedes second driver long term you know he was almost the George Russell before George Russell came along that's how much people respecting him and if we're talking about going back in time and changing events to give drivers a second chance um go back and give Kibitsa a second chance

I would say you know don't don't go and do that that race essentially you've got the he would be a world champion he was you know it came out recently that he pretty much signed a pre-agreement deal with Ferrari during the to be Fernando Alonso's. Yeah. And you know,

Kibitzer and his prime in a Ferrari sounds like it was a being sensational. I'd love to have seen it. I really do think that him and Fernando Alonkso could have really rivaled the Red Bull in a couple of those years where it was really close. So it's a real shame. It's probably one of the biggest shames in Formula One

in terms of raw ability because he was up there with one of the best. Verline's a really interesting shout because you're right with Ockon and Russell, they both spend time at the very back of the grid in the same way that Verlijn did. The other two got the opportunity to try something a bit better. And obviously, Ocon and Verlain were teammates very temporarily.

Yeah. But yeah, they got the opportunity to do something better. And Verline never did, really. So yeah, that's an interesting one. I'll never forget the winter of 2016 when obviously Rosberg announced his shock retirement. And for a very short amount of time before the Botassie, train got moving to get him in that seat. He was the bookies favourite to be the second driver at Mercedes,

which it's one of those things that reminds me of what Formula One really is. Timing is so essential. If those Bottas talks fall apart, Verline could be a multiple-time race winner in F-1. He might have had a really good career at Mercedes, again, probably as a second driver, but he might have had the career that Bottas ended up having. Instead, you know, he didn't race in Formula One really again after the Salba.

And he has done well in Formula II, of course. But yeah. You obviously make your own luck, but you're right. Timing is essential. If you get it six months out in your career, it's funny how you could go from being a potential world champion on the right trajectory to being a, I had less than 15 races in my career, and now I do something else.

KT from Texas. with the next question, which is all-time favorite race, Sam? All-time favorite race. I can't pick an all-time favorite race, but I do have a few that spring to mind. And I'm going to show, you'll definitely be able to give a more historic point of view to this, but I'm going to show my more recently bias of being.

As young as 27. The classically dubbed Jewel in the Desert, I think is actually a really underrated Grand Prix because there's only two people fighting at the front. So, Mosegis had that real dominance. and the way that we saw Hamilton and Rosberg going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth was actually sensational. They fought endlessly for lapsing.

It probably was, I'd argue, one of the best wheel to wheel races we've seen in the modern era of Formula One. And it's a real shame that one other teams close enough. That's pretty why it lets it down a little bit. And I think we've seen pretty a few of the best races ever in the last 18 months of Formula One as well. There's been some real standout moments between. the way that Vastafing and Hamilton have had the same relationship there. If I'm going old school,

1998, Belgium was obviously amazing. Absolutely loved a bit of chaos when it comes through to that one. Canada as well, of course, in what, earlier level was it the season that I'm thinking of, where it was obviously, yeah,

like the red flag made that a bit more difficult because you had to sit through that enduring long process, but it was brilliant. I am three years older because of that race. Anyway, you know, I can put it.

haven't got a favorite all-time race. Have you got a favorite all-time race, man? I do. Just to your point about recency bias, I don't believe it is recency bias, and there are people that aren't going to like what I'm about to say here, but most of F-1's best races have come from the last 12 years or so, because F-1 is miles better than it. F-1 is miles better than it used to be. There are certainly positives. I love the 1970s F1 and I spend a lot of time reading about it, watching it and same for the 80s and the 90s. But F1 is better now. It's years of improvement has got it to this point. So I think the majority of the best races have happened recently. My favorite race of all time is 2012 Brazil. I think based on it being a championship

decider. Great race. The drama of Vettel having to work his way back through the field after spin on the first lap. Obviously, Schumacher's last race, there was a motion there. Poor Holcomburg, I don't think he's ever recovered from his moment in the sudden leading that race. Button and the McLaren, the McLaren's doing, doing their thing.

It was a great race overall. Yeah, that season possibly still goes down as the best season. of all time in Formula One, I must admit, it was a sensational season. Maybe 2021 actually rivals it, I think. Yeah, it's an interesting one. Here's a quick message from our friends at NorvPN. Isn't it frustrating when you find a new TV show that you really want to see, only to then find out that it can't be watching your country?

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here for the lulls which team slash driver do you actually root for? Oh, crikey. When we started late breaking, I almost made the decision.

I wasn't a big fan of anyone at the time. Obviously, you always want your countrymen to do well. And that is true. I think you're maybe a bit of a liar if you don't look at,

you know, if you're Australian, you look at Daniel Riccardo or Piastri, you go, or Weber, you know, depending on where you started watching, you go, well, I want them to do well. And it's the same for us here in Britain. I want Hamilton, Norris, Russell to succeed. But I was, I stopped being a fan directly,

probably when I was about 13 or 14 years old because I really liked Juan Pablo Montoya. I really liked Michael Schumacher. I loved the Jordan when I was really, really young. David Coulthal, I've always been a fan of. And I kind of grew more into the love of the sport rather than following a drive around. So I don't really have one driver that I root for.

I guess I'm a Botti's fan, really. You know, love me a bit of Altry. It's just a cool guy, lovely chat, calm, chilled, enjoys himself. And I'd like to see Danny Rick back on the grid. And I guess Sebastian Vettel as well, always have a soft spot for. Ben, you're not really a fan of one driver, are you? I'm not, no. I don't root for any one particular driver or any one team.

And that's the honest truth. Comments about British bias sometimes do make me really laugh because I am the least patriotic person you will ever meet. I could not care less about nationality. I have no leaning towards British drivers winning. I don't care. I don't think I've ever once heard you say, even before we start doing the podcast,

you know, oh, it was great to see Hamilton do so well there. Or you've got out of your way to give a kind of a, oh, so glad that Russell got. it's a big break. You know, if they deserve it, you're very much an open-minded person or if they're rubbish, you'll turn around and go,

well, you are rubbish. I like to think that I evaluate based on the merits of the driver. I'm sure people will disagree, but I can only give what I think, at least, is my approach. All right, what are we going to go for next? Well, British buyers to the test

on this next question, actually, from Bobo's Nuts, because he has asked us to, of these three drivers, promote one of them to be the number one driver of your team, to promote one of these three drivers to be the reserve driver of the team, and to fire one of these drivers completely. Norris, Russell, LeCler.

Oh, I mean, they are so all on par with each other at the moment. I think if I'm going first driver promoted, I'm going to take LeCler, because I think of his experience overall at the top of the field now, he's being in the sport I think the longest of a lot of them so for me that makes sense

promotes a second driver I'm actually going to go Norris I think the age I think the raw pace that he shows I think I think he's fast in the Russell if you go wheel to wheel in exactly the same car and then I would have to fire Russell

but that feels so harsh because that man is so incredibly talented in ways that I can ever imagine to ever be myself it feels horrible but I think that's how I'm going to do it. Yeah, it feels weird to create a situation where a driver that just beat Lewis Hamilton over a season is the one being fired. Correct.

And also, it's not a crazy decision to go ahead and do that based on the three that are included here. I'm struggling, but I might have to agree with you entirely. I would say LeClaire for the promotion just because the experience, and with, at least in the case of Norris, I'm 99% sure once Lando Norris gets. gets into a great team, he will also be great. But I'm 100% sure with it with LeClair, because he's already doing it. So I think I have to go LeClaire with the promotion there.

Demote to be reserved driver, I think there's probably, I'd probably go Norris as well. I think he is a few years younger. He's maybe got a little more potential to get out than say Russell does. It's marginal, incredibly marginal, because I think Russell's great as well. world. So I'll go the same answer as you. Good question, then. That's a good question. Promote Demote Fire. That sounds like a new game, if you don't mind, Bobo's Nots. What question should we go for next? That game gets me every time. Oh, no, it's good, isn't it? We'll go two more. We'll go to Kit Catastrophe. Which driver of the 20th century has the coolest name?

Oh, what? How is that a question? It's a great question. It's a great question. Jumps in as an obvious answer. It's not a lobby for the driver. Warwick Warwick, also up there as a fantastic name option. None of these are real people. Anyone that I've made up, right?

I don't know. The coolest name? I don't know. Have you got a coolest name? Two spring to mind for. me. Because it's 20th century, we can't say the actual correct answer. If it was 21st century, the answer would of course be Scott Speed.

But for the same thing, the 20th century, Wolfgang von Trips is an amazing name. Love that. Runner up of the 61 Championship. And then another name from the 50s, I always remember this one, Tolo de Grafenreid. A Swiss driver. Don't ask me to say that. Don't ask me to say that, though. I'm not even massively confident I did that right.

Jean-Pier Jabui, A.k.a. Jaboui, rest in peace. Rest in peace. It's ridiculous. James Hunt, I think, is such a classic racing game. I think it does stand out really, really well. I know that is maybe a bit of British bias, but I do think it's a great name.

And also, I have one in mind, and I've completely forgot, oh, Djongalaisi. I know it's crazy Zhangalazi, and that's why I like it so much. That's why I think it's so cool. I think it's a really, really quick witting game. I think it's fun.

But I don't know. I can't. Samuel Save is the best game of the 20th century. I think we'll go with that one. Good answer. I'm sure there's some ones out there that I'm missing that are all so great. But off the top of my head, those are the ones I'd go for. And last question from our very own Liv Laf Latifie.

Absolutely love Liv Laf Latif. He's coming up with a good question here. Which number two driver has been head? held back the most as a result of playing the number two for their number one drivers respectively. Who's not been able to show their full potential? I find it very hard to look past Rubin's Barichello. You know, that man played second fiddle to arguably the greatest of all time and the amount

of time. Now, don't know me wrong, there were days where he stood nothing in comparison to Michael Schumacher and that man was running rings. around literally everyone and anyone, you know, their dog, their gang, Rubens and everyone all involved. Michael Schumacher was above and be of, but there were also many a day.

And, you know, those of you who don't go back and watch the races, you may not know it because statistics might say otherwise. But Rubens was not far off the pace in qualifying, in overall race pace, in the finishing times. He would have comfortably of being a multiple world champion, I think,

if Michael Schumacher hadn't existed and there was just someone else in that Ferrari team. He was a phenomenally quick. driver. And I think he, maybe wouldn't have gone into wing seven, but I think he probably could have won two or three world titles in that Ferrari team if he was allowed to do so. I think Barakello is a good show. And actually, I had it written down that if the answer was from this century, I would

definitely say Rubens Barakello, because no disrespect to the likes of Perez and Massa and Bottas, who, you know, they would Webber. They'd all probably be contenders for this as well. but I do think that Barrakello was probably a step ahead of those guys. People forget how good Barrichello was at Stewart before he went to Ferrari. He worked that drive. Yeah, he really did. So I would go for Barakello for a more recent answer.

But there's a few answers from the 70s and 80s where actually, as good as Barakello was, he obviously wasn't at the level of Schumacher, whereas there were a few number one, number two dynamics from the 70s and where realistically talent-wise, they were probably very even, but they still had the agreement in place. Jones and Reuters comes to mind, so Reuteman is the number two driver there. The only thing is Reitman didn't really listen to it,

so I'm not going to say that one. So my actual answer is Ronnie Peterson at Lotus in 1978 with Andretti. So Andretti won the championship that year. Peterson was killed at Monza, but finished second. and they had a number one, number two agreement, and Peterson throughout the entire year lived up to that agreement. If he hadn't, would he have won the title? Every chance he would have done,

because he was equally as good as Andretti was. What a line up that is as well, by the way. I know, that's a, what a line up, yeah. That would be almost an outside answer for best lying up of all time kind of thing. You know, that is a sensational pairing of drivers. Yeah. Yeah, it's one of those that you know it is

until you actually say it out loud. Like, wow. Yeah, no, that was really a lineup. That worked. Car and those two drivers. You know where you play games of? What car would you pick throughout history and what two drivers would you pick to drive it?

I would not sniff at anyone that chose that three as a combination. Or just make the combination of four and put Colin Chapman as the team owner, obviously. Right. Sensacian. That will work. That will work.

You got a recipe for pure success and they proved it, even with the unfortunate loss of life that we had there with Peter's. and as sad as it is still a main success. Indeed. Indeed. I think that's going to do it. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions and apologies to those that we couldn't quite get around to. We did our best to get through as many as we could, but we appreciate everyone submitting their questions,

regardless of whether they came up or not. And I'm sure we'll come back with that sort of feature again at some point throughout this year. Next couple of episodes, some big episodes. You'd have heard a salute to this on Wednesday's episode if you tuned in. So upcoming this Wednesday, so four days as we record this, teammate wars, myself, Sam, and we presume Harry will be back. I don't know if he will, actually, it's teammate wars. He might want to stay away. We'll each choose for the 10 teams, which driver is going to score the most points.

And at the end of the year, we reviewed see who wins. So that's coming up this Wednesday. Yeah, we'll put out some polls on the Discord as well. Get involved in the Discord if you're going out. Absolutely. And then a week from today as we record this and next Sunday, pimp my F1 because by that point, all of the liveries will be released and we'll be able to go through our favourites, least favorites, most improved, most disappointing, maybe one or two other categories in there as well. As we record this, we're halfway through the livery reveals.

I'm going to range on Sunday. I can't wait for that. Best episode of the year, folks. It is my favourite moment. So I get very passionate about it. And currently, they're doing me a disservice. so I'm going to be very grumpy currently. I can't wait for that. Until teammate was on Wednesday, Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. Folks, thanks for joining us on this lovely Sunday.

I hope you've enjoyed relaxing and listening to our sultry tones. Late Breaking Light, aka Harry, we'll be back, of course, on the Wednesday. We'll be the trio once again. And we look forward to you joining us there. If you want some more chik-chat or discussions or points currently, then, of course, get down into the Discord. can join us on social media, but we're posting things as regular as we ever have.

Loads of content coming out on social media. So joining with the chat, the debates, the conversations, the memes, the vanton, there's a picture of me, a blanket coming around as well,

which is just fantastic content. Twitter is at El Breaking, Instagram is late breaking for a podcast, and that shares the same name as our TikTok account because we're down with kids. If you want merchandise to look uncarnicious and sexy, which you know our list is we'll always do, then you can pick up a little bit of late-breaking merch,

the links in the description. But if you're on Patreon, And you get a discount on that merch. You also get an extra topic. The January topic is currently going round. If you want to join the Patreon and give it a lesson, you can. We'll be recording the February Patreon topic relatively soon. It'll go up before the end of the month.

Then you get that as well. And, you know, Patreon is always shifting. It's like water. It's always changing. Patreon might change. Who knows? Little teaser for you there. Have a little look.

It massively helps us. And we can maybe make this our full-time thing if that continues to grow. So everyone that does it currently, we hugely appreciate you. Thank you so much. I think that's it. Harry's got here to give a stupid answer. So I've been Samuel the Sage and Harry Ead's been a moron.

And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late. Woo! The podcast is part of the Sport Social Podcast Network.