The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Bottas wins his first race of the season and Verstappen reclaims championship lead! | 2021 Turkish GP Review | Episode 152

Episode Date: October 10, 2021

It's finally happened, Valtteri Bottas won his first race of the year at the Turkish GP! As Max Verstappen reclaims the lead in the driver's championship, the LB trio are here to discect all the action from Istanbul.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

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We'd love to talk, business. 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 warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and myself, Ben Hocking. Valturi Bottas. Oh, Valtry Bottas. Oh, Valtry.

Oh, oh, Valtery. He did it. He did it. For the first time in 2021, Valtry Votas has gone on to win a Grand Prix. Just a heads-up, we are recording this directly after the race. So if in a few hours time he gets a post-raised penalty for something, we're going to have to backtrack on a lot of what you're saying here.

Vantry Votas winning a Grand Prix. Now, folks, there are going to be some of you that have been listening for a while throughout the entirety of this season. and thank you for your continued support. And you might well remember something from the beginning of this season where we did a predictions podcast right before the season got underway.

And I'd like to play for you now a very short interlude from one of those podcasts. Take a listen. So I know it's to start the season. I know that we haven't actually had any racing yet, but I'm going to make a pretty bold prediction here. I don't think that...

I don't think that Valtry Bottas is going to win another race in Formula One again, this season or ever again. Ever again. I just don't see it happening. I don't see it happening. Like 2018, I don't think you'll get a race this season. I think he'll be gone by the end of the season. So if it happens, then I don't know. Maybe we'll have to come up with some kind of forfeit.

But yeah, I just don't see him standing on the top spot ever again. That right there was Samuel. Sage predicting that Valtry Bottas would never win a Grand Prix ever again. And there were a lot of hairy moments throughout this season. It was looking more and more like that might actually come true. He didn't win his hallow turf of Russia. We know he's moving on next year away from a race-winning car. So it looked more and more like he might be on to something.

But Sam, today is the day where you eat your words, I'm afraid. I'll eat them happily I'll be graciousing it I mean big Valtry On the International Porridge Day Of all days The level 200 Porridge Bodies

Has come through And won a race And you know what This is one I'm happy To take the Big L on To lose on Because he deserves it He deserves it

The Man drover Bloody Good race He's had so many podiums And it was fun And every single lap That it ticked down I was thinking here we go.

I'm going to have to deal with this now for weeks and weeks on end. And then we had that moment where Charles LeClerler was like, boys, she actually just stay out and Ferrari suddenly decided that was actually a possible strategy which I clearly hadn't thought of themselves

and I thought, hang on, I might be safe. LeCleur might win this and then he locked up twice and the gap was suddenly nine-tenths and Bodies Grove on. So I guess the hashtag chagalby hashtag please more bodies because the man's done it.

Well done, Valtrey. I'll eat a bowl of porridge just for you. I don't even like porridge, but I'll do it for you, mate. Deserved. Mitt. Maybe this will unlock a streak of winning and now Bottas will win every race

until the end of the season. That's impressive. And this is it. And then it goes off to Alpara and he shouldn't have been replaced. Unlakely. It's unlikely. Maybe not, but we'll take the win today, regardless.

And for those of you in the Discord, a lot of you in there now, so thank you for that. Sam is going to put a poll in there to determine what is his forfeit for Valtry Bottas finally claiming a race victory. So I'm not sure what the options are going to be, Sam, but I'll let you get thinking on that one. I think what we'll do, folks, if you're interesting, joining this decision on what a silly forfeit might be, It's not going to be anything permanent, and it won't be anything to do with my hair, thank you, before we get into silly hair dying. I have to go to work and do normal things. But I will happily ask for suggestions in the Discord chat,

and then we'll have a look at those suggestions, and we'll create a poll out of the best three or four, and then in the short-term future, there will be some kind of silly forfeit. You don't make a prediction that bold at the start of the season, and then not have to pay the price when eventually it doesn't go your way. I'd like to thank myself for thinking it went on for this long, actually. So thanks Bottas for keeping it spicy. Who would have thought we would get this many races into the season?

And I was almost there. I think this might have been the last time that it could have happened. So we almost got it. So yeah, get to the Discord, join in for the for the forfeit. And there's going to be lots of silliness around hashtag Botties for the future. I reckon it's because they cancelled Canada. And he was just doing it by the race number. And he thought, oh, this one will be Russia.

He's out of sync for the whole season. He thinks next week there raises Turkey, and then he'll spin a lot in the USA. It has been like, when time in England, folks, we have British summertime, and we have, you know, the time goes back by an hour in the, in autumn, the time goes forward, an hour in spring for farmers and whatnot. And Bottas is like he's on the Greenwich meantime plus one for the whole season, and it might reset when we get to the end of the year. Bless him.

He's just got out of sync. what happens at the end of the year when he's expecting abu-dabby that there isn't a race because he's just done it thinking it's the race before it would just be there on his own driving around bless him anyway belfry botas is of course going to make up a large chunk of what we discussed today after his victory of course and we'll also be discussing how red bull got on in their fight versus mercedes of course the championship battle it swings once again this time in the favor of Max Verstappen. What are we up to now? Is it six points? Are we up to six points now? Six points. Max Verstappen has a lead by, which of course is a fewer amount of points versus a first versus a second place finish in the Grand Prix.

So it's still very, very close between the two drivers. Max Verstappen coming home second. In the end, quite a long way off Valtrey Bottas. He did keep him honest, at least for the first half of the Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton eventually finishing P5 was P3 before he made his pit stop. a controversial decision which is going to make up our first main topic today. So Sam, do you think Mercedes made an error in pitting Lewis Hamilton from third and eventually ending up finishing fifth? With anything in Formula One, it is so hard to give a definitive answer and we can't see the parallel history of what might have happened how Lewis Hamilton just stayed out for the rest

of the race. I would be inclined to trust the seven-time world champion when he is quite adamant about something. Hamilton doesn't often make too many incredibly bad strategy calls and the threat of reign, as much as it was kind of there for the whole race, it was never materialising. The comments of, you know, oh, it's reigning a bit more at turn 9 or it's ringing a bit more at turn 12, whether it is,

they really subsiding in the last 10-15 laps. And the saying he's never once in the radio that we heard anyway, rain is coming, you know, we are really under threat of rain. We need to come in case it does chuck it down, or we're going to lose everything. We never had that threat, like much up we did in Russia the other way round when it was dry for the start of the race and then got very wet at the end.

And they made a brilliant call then and Lewis listened. And this is why I think maybe he came in this time around because of how good the call was last time. But yeah, I think they should have trusted in Lewis Hamilton. I think they should have trusting in the seven-time champ.

You don't get 100 Formula One victories without being a bit savvy behind the will. And, you know, if he got overtaken by LeClaire and Perez, then he ends up in the same place that he would have been if he had pitted anyway. And they really rely on. on the fact that these intermediates, which have been proven multiple times from multiple drivers, they go off very quickly and you have to wear them in, and then you get the level of performance

that you actually want from that tie with how the track was working. Ricardo was the big starter on that. Alon also had the same issue, and then a few of the top runners, they also saw the same problem. We saw LeCleur right in front of Hamilton, we saw exactly that, and then LeCleur drove off by three, four seconds. So I think it wouldn't make sense to take the risk. You would have finished getting maybe P3, P4, you definitely could have gained a couple of points on this and gap were going smaller. I think Hamilton has every right to be very frustrated with what was going on, because of course, I don't think he even knew what position he was in when he came out of the pits. I think for a moment, he thought, I've managed to come back out in the same space that I'm being, and we're fine.

No problem, which of course wasn't the case. So, yeah, I think Mercedes has lost Lewis Hamilton points today, but there's no guarantee. It makes sense to be safe. It's still damaged limitation, and they still moved up six places in the race in the gap, as we've already disclosed. It's only six points of the Drivers' Championship. We go to USA, where Hamilton has been pretty spectacular over the previous years. So, yes, frustrating for Lewis. Not a bad day for Mercedes. And I think they could be quite happy knowing that they're going to another positive

track for themselves where the gap is very, very small and could easily turn once again. So, frustrating, but not the end of the world. What do you think, Harry, do you think that this was an era on Mercedes part? I think it was the right call, but they didn't make it early enough. I don't know they did try and Hamilton wanted to stay out. but for playing it I think this was a damage limitation race and I get what Hamilton was saying

he was keeping up on pace but Ocon and I know they are in different cars but Ockon in the last few laps dropped through the order like a stone he lost and this is courtesy of Chris Medland so thank you Chris he lost 50 seconds in 14 laps

to signs in eighth that's ridiculous I completely missed it so I guess if they say you know, Mercedes will use that as their argument to Lewis tonight as to why they brought him in. And there's, you know, impossible to say whether that would have happened to Lewis. But if he had, this would have been, if that had happened to him,

that would have been an even worse. And it's not a horrible result, but it could have been worse than it was. And yeah, but so I think they should have made it earlier because last couple of laps he started to pull away from Ghazni again because he was starting to get through that phase and rain in Perez. So if they had, I know they were having discussions on the radio.

And maybe they'd called it even earlier than that. Then he might have still been able to get back past Perez, LeCler. But yeah, I don't know. It's a very tricky one. But it was clear to see that there was a phase you had to go through when you put these new tyres on. And with 10 laps to go, I think at that point,

maybe they should have actually, maybe they should have left him but I think overall it was the right call to bring him in because they couldn't have afforded an Opon style drop through the field because he may have lost even more points to Vosan than he did

so yeah it wasn't ideal damage limitation but it was still damaged limitation in some form and they're fortunate that Botas turned up today because they denied Vestappan an extra 7 points True. And I mean, if we're speaking in terms of Constructors' Championship,

Mercedes actually won the day, overall thanks to Bottas's win. So it leads constructors-wise. It's no damage done. And in fact, lead extended. It's ironic that we're recording this one after the last Grand Prix, which was the Russian Grand Prix, where one of the main talking points was Lando Norris' decision late in the race, where he went against his team's advice. and actually this is a pretty similar situation in that Lewis Hamilton went against his team's advice to come in

he didn't the second time around but he did the first time around and ultimately I think that's probably what cost him the most here is that he should have listened to them the first time around and we said with the Norris situation not that Norris was blameless but the team did not do enough to be more forthcoming about what they thought was the best strategy decision

in Russia they went over the team radio and stated, you know, what do you think about the inters? What do you think we should do? Should we stay on the slicks? And ultimately, you know, that they suffered as a result of that. Here, Mercedes and Bono particularly, they were much more direct about it. They said, box, box, you know, this is what we should do. And Lewis Hamilton went against the strategy.

Now, Mercedes possibly should have gone back to him with a bit more vigour. maybe they should have, you know, stress their point a bit more. But ultimately, Hamilton went against a team order. And I think that was the wrong decision because we're speaking about the intermediate tires. We could tell that the new intermediate tyres were going to be stronger. But yes, you're right, that graining stage, that's the difficult part to get through. The fewer laps you have left, the bigger the percentage of laps in those conditions, you have to do. If you come in with eight laps to go and the graining is going to last six,

laps or something along those lines, then 75% of your laps are going to be done under those horrible conditions. If you pit with 20 to go, then suddenly it's a much lesser percentage of time that you have to go through that stage. And ultimately, yeah, if he pits the first time around, I think that's probably the best call in terms of, yeah, he probably still loses out to Perez because of how Red Bull reacted straight away. But it would have been the almost a hybrid strategy between keeping somewhat aggressive, but also playing it safe enough that he's not out there on completely worn tyres. Let's forget about the first time he tried it, sorry, the team tried it and Hamilton turned it down and go to the second time where he did

actually listen. Firstly, I don't think he was aware, as Jensen Button rightly picked up in the UK commentary, I don't think he was aware of what would happen if he came into the pits, what positions he would lose. I don't hold that against Hamilton at all. I don't think it's his responsibility to know exactly what the strategic impact of a decision would be. That's the job of the pit wall. And when he realised, obviously, he was pretty angry and he wasn't at all, wasn't at all happy with the team for making that decision where he's lost two positions. At that point in time, I don't think it was the right decision at all. Because like I say, if you have to go through that graining stage and you know it's going to happen, you just don't have the lapse at the

of the race in order to make it back up again. And yes, like what happened with Vestabana-Ock-Con, you might have a situation where the tyres fall off a cliff, but is that really that much worse than that graining he was going through? I don't think there's much in it, to be quite honest. And this goes back to the point that Sam made in that, yeah, you know, if you stay out, maybe you get overtaken by Perez, maybe you get overtaken by Leclair.

So what? It's the same result as if he pits anyway. And at least you're then asking the question. as to whether that happens or not. If you just pit and leave it there, you almost, you completely remove the possibility of it. Maybe it doesn't go well, but you've at least got to give it a chance at that point.

And I know the Esteban-Ock-Con comparison is valid to an extent, but we have to consider that the car that Hamilton is driving downforce-wise is going to be much better suited, and Hamilton particularly is a much better driver than Esteban-Ocon. So if I had to trust anyone to hold on with awful tires at the end of the Grand Prix, I'm putting my money on Lewis Hamilton. So I think at the point in the race where they made the decision, it was not correct. And for me, one of the most interesting things is going into the race weekend,

obviously you've got plenty of phrases flying around from team bosses and such. One that really stuck with me was from Toto Wolfe, where he said that Mercedes from now until the end of the season were going to remain aggressive. and I'm yes aggression wins in Formula One, aggression wins in sport. I thought it was a great thing to say and I completely agree with it. The decision that they made was possibly the most defensive play

they could make at that point. They went with the safest possible option and they lost points as a result of it, I believe. I think they might well have lost one position but I don't know if they're lost two. And again, even if they do lose two, it's, you know, it counters itself out. So first time around, I think Hamilton was wrong

to disobey the team. second time around. I think the team were wrong to suggest the strategy. That's interesting. I also think something that's quite curious, which we've seen a lot in the last couple of years, and I'm talking about reactions here, and talk about the emotion of the drivers themselves. When we've seen the likes of Norris getting his first poll, or when Gassley got that victory, or when LeCleur got his, for example, a lot of people brought up, oh, you know, I miss this emotion, I miss this feeling of being on top or, you know, wanting that victory. and people have often criticised Hamilton for not being emotive enough when it comes to being successful or showing that desire for the title.

But I think today we saw that first little bit of emotional outburst over the radio. He was properly frustrated with his team at that point. We saw proper swearing. We saw, you know, get out my headset, leave me alone. I do not want to talk to you right now. I'm the seven-time world champion and you've just mucked this up for me. And if this comes down to a six-point deficit at the end of the title, and I could have made up those points in this race,

that's on you. It felt like Hamilton today properly showed how much he cares about winning an eighth world title that that passion isn't gone even this late into his career, which is lovely to see because he does keep himself to himself a little bit when things are going well.

So I think it was brilliant to see a little bit of fire over the radio from Hamilton to Gates. Showed how much he wants this. Yeah, no no about that whatsoever. Looking at the other side of the Mercedes garage, of course, Valtry Bottas, as we've already mentioned and laughed at Sam for, Valtry Bottas did take the race win. He did so by a pretty comfortable margin in the end.

It was hovering around three seconds in that sort of first half of the race, but after the pit stops were made, Bottas was able to extend the gap. So Sam, given he technically got pole position, but he was beaten in qualifying, how impressed were you by Valtry Bottas this weekend? I was flawed by Valtry Bottas this weekend. That was one of the best performances I've seen

for Valtrey Bottas in a long time. The man was calm, he was dominant, he had everything under his control, he kept the gap to Max Verstappen. You know, we heard Jenkson Butting in the British comms box on Sky Sports say that we're watching two of the greatest of all time going at it this season, the Stappen and Hamilton.

I think that's still a little bit harsh, a bit quick to judge on the Stappen just yet, but I can understand the level that he's driving at. And he just kept him in his back pocket, lap after lap after lap. At one point we heard over the radio, OK, Max, you've kept the tents and the tyres in the right condition. You could go for it now.

The gap came down by about eight tents, and then it never came down anymore. And Valtrey Boccas just went, all right, I'm going to go faster now, especially this time last year, where Bottas spank five times. Crofty did enough mentioning of that across the entire race period. And Bottas, in the wet conditions, you would think that it would favour him,

but he's never really excelled massive. in wet weather conditions and damp conditions. But here, the level of control was spectacular. Not a single mistake made from Valtrey Bottas. He led every single thing he came up to Charlercéeux after the pit phase. He got the move done brilliantly. It was well executed. The guy was fantastic from start to finish.

And I wish he could bring that every weekend because I think he would be absolutely phenomenal. But this was great to see from Valtrey. And if this isn't the last win that he gets at Mercedes, then I think he can chalk that down with a very, very good one and be very pleased with himself for it. How impressive was Bottas, Harry?

Yeah, it was pretty good. The best, maybe he's been all year. And yeah, I appreciate he didn't actually get the fastest timing quality, but he was there or thereabouts. And, yeah, just during the race today, as Sam said, he always had an answer for the Staffen.

yeah he was just very good at conserving his tarts and always had always had the pace to keep for stopping at bay i mean it was never apart from at the start it never really got under three seconds or you know two and a half seconds and from there and then he just he just waltzed off into the distance so um yeah it was a very valery botas way he doesn't win races any other way it seems but it was a very very vallatory botas way to win a race and you know that his it is he's his he's his his last F1 victory and yeah i think that was very very fitting uh fitting one for him to win especially after last year's performance at turkey so um yeah it was very good to see him back um

and it does prove that he is a good driver he's just been up against some tough competition for most of the time so um yeah glad to see it well on one on walter and not just because it proves samron but i am happy to see him get a win before he uh departs to alpha ramio next year Speaking of Alpha Romeo, they have absolutely nailed this in terms of getting Valtrey Votas on a multi-year deal. I don't know what it is. A lot of people seem to think that Valtry Votas is worse than what he is, thanks to what he's gone through at Mercedes versus Lewis Hamilton. And I've been pretty critical of Valtrey this year. I don't think it's been a great one at all, but there have been good years for him at Mercedes, particularly 2017, 2019.

and when he's on it, you're right. He is absolutely on it. And there are going to be those that question this win and say, well, would he have won if Lewis Hamilton was there? Lewis Hamilton did get the fastest time in qualifying. Lewis Hamilton seemed pretty quick in the first half of the race when he was not in traffic. And to that, I would say, so what? It's Formula One.

That happens. It's what aboutism. And I'm not interested in that. Occasionally, it's not going to go right for your teammate. And all you can do is drive your own race and capitalize on it. And that's what he did. And ultimately, it would have been very interesting to see. I think it's a weird one.

I think beforehand, before the race, Valtre Bottas was probably thinking, why is it raining? Why is it raining? Vastapen is brilliant in the wet. I know I've got the car to win in the dry. Come on, God. What are you doing? But as the race went on,

I think he can probably be quite thankful that it was wet because as a result of that, Lewis Hamilton in the dry might well have got up to P2, in which case Mercedes might well have said, let's have ourselves a little switch just for the hell of it. Why not? Or they would have brought Bottas in for an emergency pit stop for safety reasons.

But ultimately, they didn't have the gap to do that. They didn't have the position to do that. So actually, I think as the race went on, he was pretty quite thankful that it was a wet one. He was great. And the commentary team made a big, deal of Vastappen when he was closing up the gap. It was periodic. You know, Vastappen, he was half a tenth quicker on that last lap. Oh, Vestappen, he was four attempts quicker on that last lap.

They didn't mention quite as much when Bottas then said, okay, and responded over the next few laps and put that gap back to where it was. I don't think he got the credit that he deserved actually from the UK comms team on that, because, yeah, it did get down to about two seconds at one point, and then it went back up to three seconds. And it just seemed so well. managed. It was very, dare I say, it was very Hamilton-esque the way that he managed that Grand Prix in that you always felt that even with that lead coming down at certain points in the Grand Prix, that he always had the pace in hand. He had one very minor moment going into term one where he had a, he just had a very snap of overstim and he almost lost it. But apart

from that, you couldn't pick out another moment in the Grand Prix where he seemed to be in jeopardy. he responded to the Red Bull pit stop right away, which was the correct thing to do, and actually in that second stint, he just extended and extended and extended, and to the point where the lead was double digits rather than just a couple of seconds. And of course, the fastest lap to boot as well.

He was brilliant out there. He was absolutely brilliant. And like I said at the beginning of this, Alpha Romeo, they've got themselves to steal. I really think they do. Or is it Andretti Racing, rumor mill speaking. yeah we might have something to talk about midweek

check out that podcast when it comes out that might well be a topic actually no knowing our luck it will be confirmed like an hour before we report but don't worry about that regardless Botas is got to be a contender for sure but Sam after giving Bottas worst driver

of the day about 26,000 times is he getting your driver of the day there are a good few contenders we have some real standout performances across the Turkish Grand Prix but my driver of the day to day is the

oh it's hard go on you can do it you can do it Valtru Bottas oh god I can't believe it he's finally done he deserves it

he goes from his biggest critic ever me you people with this course seems to think oh there it is yes Valtry um 10 seconds

bit late there it's okay it's just clearly a delay in the podcast I just wasn't ready, all right? It's taken the world by storm, the shock, the echoes. Yeah, I mean, I'm arguing one of his biggest critics, and I think it's always really liked Bottas, so to see him actually prove me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy,

and it's great, and I hope everyone in the Discord when you hear this, you can have some fun mocking me with it, but the guy was flawless today, even with that snap of overski, it's a snap of overskear. You know, we saw Hamilton, have 43 scanners of overskirts of overskirts, is sometimes it's just better to push the car and he caught it he was flawless he was absolutely brilliant and i hope we see this level of performance from him for the rest of the season because you never know he could be a regular threat on the top step of the podium if things go his way so

yep big up valtery porridge level two thousand you're the king to game national porridge day you couldn't make it up could you um botas is definitely a contender for me but i am going to for once and this very rarely happens. I'm going to agree with the people. I'm going to agree with the masses. I'm going to go with Carlos Sines. He did a brilliant job of getting through the field. He was setting fastest lap after fastest lap in that second stint

when he had a bit of air as well. So, yeah, he was able to make the overtakes when he needed to, apart from the Vettel one, which was a little bit clumsy, but the rest of them were all pretty clinical. And he did what he had to do. Started P-19, finished P-8. It's pretty rare as well that I'll actually pick a drive, who started at the back and made their way through the field's driver of the day.

But since it wasn't signs his fault that he was there to begin with, I'll give it to him. But, yeah, Bottas, a contender. The other one I'll mention is Charleclair didn't quite finish on the podium, but he had good pace all weekend, and he was right there with Verstappen lap after lap. so those three would be the standouts, I think, for me. What about you, Harry? Yeah, shockingly, I'm agreeing with Ben and the people, and that is nothing against Vaghti Bottas still,

because I think he is a huge contender for Drive of the Day. And ironic that the only person giving him Drive of the Day is Sam. But, yeah, I thought Signs was really impressive. Yeah, like I said, Ben, there was only one clumsy move on Vettel. And actually, I think without that, potentially without that rubbish pit stop he had, which was about eight seconds, where they just held him. I'm not entirely sure why, Ferrari. Yeah, without that, I think maybe he could have been slightly further up.

but yeah I thought it was a very impressive impressive drive through the field and we've talked about it before but to you know be separate I don't know if he is he ahead or behind the he is ahead by point half a point I half a while yeah I think we all none of us would have expected that

at the beginning of the season so yeah I will give it to call our size I mean even when you can do a good job in the face of your own team Ferrari you're doing all right, aren't you? Worst driver of the day. Who've you got, Sam? Now, this one pains me to say it.

I'm going to have to give it to two-time world champ, Big Fernando. I'm doing the dance with a sad face today, folks, the two-time world champ dance. Yeah, this one's tough. I mean, he got tagged on the outside, and we're going to talk about the Ghazly penalty later on, folks, because I know there are some strong opinions on that one.

So he went around the outside, and I think that was a great move. I think that I'd really enjoy. how he put his car there. I actually think that the move was completely fair and he had every right to be there. He got tagged, so he's at the back. And he starts to make his way through the grid.

Well, he tries to. He gets to Schumacher, who he just absolutely plows off the road. Lixir goes, get out my way. What you're doing? I'm not going around you. I'm going to say, I'm just going to drive into you and hope you disappear. Poor Mick, who still managed to beat his teammate,

I think, by 20 seconds, despite facing the wrong way, which is pretty impressive. And then he just never really progressive. up the grid. Vettel had the terrible time on the mediums, and I think should be a call for one of the worst drivers on the day, and yet Alokso got past him, and then Latifi beat him as well, but that was it. It was just a really not-stand-out performance from Fernando. The strategy never seemed to be there after the issue. We had the penalty they had to contend with, which I think was

deserved. It was all just a little bit rubbish from Fernando, which is really rubbish to say, because when he first starting, it was alongside Gassi for a split second, and I thought, hang on a minute, Fernando's actually going to be in a podium position. What's going on? But no, not to be. So, yeah, Fernando also, worst rather than they. I think for me, there are three contenders who actually have six world championships

between them. So they are Fernando Alonzo, Sebastian Vettel, and Nikita Mazepin. I mean, Mazapin was like a pit stop behind Schumacher, which appears to be the norm nowadays. and ultimately he has to be marked down for not quite understanding how blue flags work.

It's even worse considering his teammate was directly behind him showing this is how you get out of the way. This is how you do it. No, no, that's not how, no, you've nearly crashed there. That's not how you do it. So yeah, that is one of them.

But I'm going to save him today. It won't be Mazpin today. I think it's either Vettel or Alonzo. with the venture out into soft tire conditions, which, by the way, might be the worst strategic decision I've seen in a long, long time. Even before that, though, he was a long way behind his teammate and wasn't really that competitive. So I'll go with semi-vette today. Harry, who are you going for? I am going to give it to, and I feel sad about this, but we're only basing on today, little Yuki Sonoda. And he was having to have a lot of it. I was having

was such a promising race. He kept Townsend behind for like seven laps or maybe six laps or something, which is, you know, not easy to do. And then he had a little spin. And then he was, and then he was nowhere for the rest of the race. And Gasly was, you know, up there in, was he, P5? P6. B6. Yeah.

But, you know, actually I think it was a more encouraging weekend overall. But, yeah, it was just a shame that he can execute the race. Weirdly, and this is not related to why I've given it. and in Australia. But do you know who is driver coach is this weekend? Me? No. It's Alex Albon.

Was it really? Sorry, Yuki, just do a spin over there. I think I'll do your race a really good job, actually. And then, on lap 30, do a spin out. This is the most important part.

If you just sign this letter here resigning from the team, this will really help you out, I promise you. Okay, Alex. Okay, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Alex.

Thanks so much for your help, Alex. It really means a lot. Don't worry about it, you, Keith. Don't worry about it, mate. That's bizarre. How is that not a bigger story? I had no idea. I don't know.

Ted. Get old Ted on the Ted's a notebook. Watch on YouTube folks if you can't see it. Yeah, you just drop that little gem. I was like, sure. Alex Albone is a driver coach. Alex Ab on the win who got dumped from Red Bull coaching the junior driver at Red Bull

but sure. Yeah. You go for it. Oh well, I'm sure. I know a driver that might well be wanting to step into that driver coach role. Danny Kviat's back again everyone. You can't keep him away.

Let's hope he goes there. I have to say just on a slightly more serious point with Yuki Sonoda, you're right that he was more encouraging and that, you know, he did a good job of holding Hamilton behind him. definitely a better job than the other drivers he overtook did. He was looking like this could be the race weekend where he could do a better job. And I think he ended up like a minute and ten seconds behind his teammate. It's pretty tough, very tough.

Moment of the race, Sam, have you got? Or what have you got? Well, for a while I was thinking that it had to be Lewis Hamilton simply demanding why. over the team radio when they asked if you wanted to appear, which I just thought was hilarious. His tone of voice was like a child speaking to his, like, I know, his teacher or something when he'd been asked something.

He went, why? So you're an idiot, mate. What are you doing? But actually, I think my moment of the race is actually just going to be Ted for the entire Grand Prix weekend. He started the race with going, you know, this is going to be hilarious.

All the drivers go have horrible time. Can't wait to watch some spings. and then when they were talking about the weather halfway through the race and Jensen Button was talking about it Ted just goes, sorry Jensen we don't all live in L.A. in our lovely big houses some of us have to still live in England and he absolutely smoked him

and I was like, all right Ted with the sass so it actually isn't to do with the racing it's to do with Big Ted and he was being brilliant all season every time he turned up to a Grand Prix and he was fantastic again to go so Ted thank you for bringing the entertainment honestly those of you're not watching on Sky Sports in the UK, you are missing out.

Big Ted Kravitz. It's a saving grace. Harry, your moment of the race? I've got two that I can't really choose between. The first one is actually genuine track, on track action, which was the tasty little battle between Checo and Hamilton, and fair play to Checo for not giving up. I thought it's very, very tasty indeed.

And, you know, very easy for those two to have an incident and for F on Twitter to have a meltdown. But they didn't, and it was all clean and fair, and it was good. but I think the one that is going to be the race from me is the one that sent me into a fit laughter which was Charles de Claire

asking on the radio if if he didn't pit where he might end up thinking like at this pace and his engineer came back and said well if you keep P2 behind you you'll win mate I'm like that's not what he wants it

jeez thanks for that if you don't get overtaken you'll stay in the same place brilliant thank you Ferrari again thanks for confirming that one to me engineer I didn't know how motorsport works

until this point brilliant it says a lot that I've got three potential moments of the race and two of them are related to Ferrari's team radio it's fantastic

I would say that one again that sent me as well the other one of LeClaire being like you know what you know what just just just just listen to me here team alright just listen for a second let me in it

what if we don't pit and then Ferrari like oh wow we'll have to come back to you on that one Charles we haven't thought of that geez I'd like that he was just silence the first time they were like all on the pit all again what then go stop

I loved it the moment of the race is the one that you didn't pick though Harry for me and that was the Perez and Hamilton battle. It was so good. And it did Perez, it did Perez the world of good in the eyes of Red Bull, I'm sure, because it was, yeah, helped him out a lot. Showed a lot of fight in that.

Could have very easily given that up. Had to, you know, almost go into the pit lane in order to keep the position. But he was forced out there. So, yeah, he was brilliant in that little stretch. We're going to talk about Red Bull actually. Coming up next. So Max Verstappen ended up finishing P2.

Harry, do you think that he should be happy about this result? Because ultimately he's got the championship lead back. He's got a bit of a buffer in six points. But in a race where Hamilton takes a penalty, he doesn't go on to win. What do you think? Yeah, I think pre-race weekend, I don't know if they knew about the penalty,

but it was on the cards, wasn't it? I think maybe Vestappan would have hoped for a win, and if Hamilton was in fifth, that'd be amazing for him, but in second, he'd still take a bigger points lead than he has already. But I don't know, I think after Friday, it was clear that Red Bull weren't on the pace of Mercedes, and I think this is probably, and even in the race today,

once Hamilton had got past Sonoda, Stroll, Norris, and he absolutely flew past them after a few of the first. that was behind Yuki. I think, you know, a lot of us were thinking Hamilton could go on to win the race entirely because he's got so much pace. And that Mercedes was clearly performing better than the Red Bull. You know, Vastappen, every time we've already said,

every time we tried to chip away, Bottas, Bottas just responded. So I think in light of that, I think Red Bull and Vostappan in particular can be happy with how that went. you know yeah they've both had engine penalties now

and the difference is still minute which is ridiculous yeah but I think overall they'll be okay with how that weekend went that obviously wants to take the win but looking at their relative pace and I think if it had been a dry race then there's every chance Hamilton could have cruised past

Perez and Versteppen fairly easily not that will ever have a dry race in Turkey. It's not allowed. Banned. But yeah, so I think they can be fairly pleased with how that weekend went and the result. I know they didn't gain in the constructors, but from a driver's championship point of view, I don't think

Bostappan can complain too much. What do you think, Sam? Do you think Bostappan should be happy with how that weekend transpired? Yeah, 100%. At the end of the day, his championship goal every single race is to beat Lewis Hamilton. If you keep beating Lewis Hamilton, whether it be by one place or by three places or by 10 plays,

is he will eventually go on to win the title. That is the goal that he needs. I'm sure he'd love to get the Constructors title alongside with it. Dang me wrong. But I bet Christian Horner cares a little more about that one than Max. Max wants to be a world champion. Maxis could beat the seven-time world champion to do so. And when you turn up on Friday,

and you realize that this Mercedes advantage that they've had is quite possibly the biggest they've had all season, and you know that the sages are so confident in their pace, that they go, give Lewis the penalty that early on in the weekend. end and he takes pole by that margin and you come away with the championship lead, I think you've got to be pretty happy with it. Botas was absolutely flying a car that suited that track absolutely down to the ground. And yeah, I'm sure Max probably would have looked at Bottas and Pol in these conditions and thought, if I'm going to beat anyone in that the

Suggies right now, I'm glad it's got Hamilton that's on P1. I'm glad it's BOTS because I've got a chance here. So I'm sure he'll be a little bit gutted to see how well Bottas got away and actually did a brilliant performance. But yeah, finishing seconds, taking away 18 points, moving a heck of Hamilton by six points in the championship, this has been a very good weekend for Red Ball when realistically, they don't have the car to go on and dominate here. And I think actually Perez to Hamilton,

Stappen a massive favour by defending against Hamilton. I think that that was really the telling point there. So maybe the Stappen could buy Perez a little beer later on. Yeah, I think for Max, this has been a pretty, you know, a 9 out of 10 weekend, of course, the 10 out of 10 will be to take the win, but I think he's got absolutely everything else that he needs other than that extra cut of points for the victory.

whether he will be or not I'm not sure but he should be absolutely delighted with how that race weekend went because he had you know on pure pace alone he had no right to beat either Mercedes driver of course the way that it worked out you know botas and Mercedes they had the advantage even in even in wet conditions which i actually think proves that if it was dry conditions botas might well have won that race by double the amount again knowing what we know in terms of Vastappen's usual pace in wet conditions versus Botas's usual pace in wet conditions. So I actually think the wet conditions might well have pulled them a little bit closer together, proving that Mercedes always had the edge on them here.

And ultimately, Lewis Hamilton, I'll go back to what I said earlier. Lewis Hamilton starting P11 in that car in dry conditions, I think he gets back on the podium, if not P2. And if he gets to P2, he probably gets P1 as a result of a switcheroo. I actually think that they can be Red Bull and Vestappen can be absolutely delighted of how this race weekend has gone. I actually think just outside of the Mercedes versus Red Bull battle specifically, I actually think he can be pretty happy to finish ahead of LeCler as well

because I honestly think in dry conditions, Charlecée might have had him. And I think given the way that Ferrari set up their car, Leclair was the fastest guy in the speed traps all weekend long, I don't think Vestappen would have got power. I don't think Vestappen would have got past Leclair if Leclair had managed to get ahead at the start or at another point in the Grand Prix.

I think Leclair would have had too much top speed. So I think he can actually be pretty happy that he's finished ahead of Leclair, not just Lewis Hamilton. Yeah, Lewis Hamilton made up six positions, 11th to 5th, but I think you've got to take that on a track where I think Mercedes had probably had the biggest advantage at this track

than any other track for quite a long time. And if we look at the last race where again it was a damage limitation race, but in reverse, Vastappen's able to get to P2 on another Mercedes circuit. We're now coming up to some races here where Red Bull will probably fancy their chances. Maybe not Austin next time out.

Not sure about that one, but definitely Mexico and Brazil, they'll like their chances to extend that lead. And I said a few races ago that, I honestly think this stretch of Mercedes tracks, including this one, including Sochi, including Monza and Spa, although they didn't have, they couldn't have done too much about Spa. I think those races, the fact that they haven't been able to capitalize on them is going to cost them. I still do believe that, at least in terms of the driver's championship.

Maybe not the constructors, but yeah, I think Mustafa should be absolutely delighted. Other side of the garage, Sergio Perez returns to the podium for what I believe was the third time this season. season, so he hasn't made much of a habit of it this year, but he's back on there with a P3 today. Sam, good race for him, do you think? Yeah, I think the whole Red Ball team should be absolutely delighted. They came into this race weekend and they knew the pace wasn't going to be fantastic, but I think Friday practice and then qualifying really cemented the fact that the pace wasn't there. So to see both cars on the poe game, especially when Lecler was so far up the road at one point from Perez, is absolutely stellar. Perez's defense against Hamilton was

stout, it was strong, it was fair, it was clean, and we'll see a Mercedes and a Red Bull go wheel to wheel and no one came off the track. So, you know, that's always tasty. Even if he did have to cut the white line on the pit laying entry, which no one brought up at all. I know they spoke about the fact that he did it, but I'm surprised there was not even a mention of a warning or something on those lines. But Perez King, absolutely every single thing that he could do to keep Hamilton behind. He massively helped Red Bull, picks up his pokey in position in a track where he clearly seems to be alright at. You know, we look at last season as well,

and he did very strongly here, and wet weather is not often Perez's strongest point. So, yeah, I think Perez can be really buoyed by this. I think this is a really positive performance after what we've seen. The fact, I think this is his first podium since France, maybe something around that time period, maybe the win in Baku. It's been a while, so the guys definitely decided to pick it up.

Hopefully it extends for the rest of the season, and we get a very close. battle between both Mercedes and both Red Bulls for the last few races of the season. Harry, were you impressed by Perez? Yeah, I think it was a much better weekend for Checo. I think he, you know, this, I know in the race he still was a fair bit behind, not a fair bit, but he was behind for Stauffin. But I think this weekend, he's been closer in terms of performance.

And, you know, they were saying in practice because it's a bit more understeery of this circuit. And obviously, for Stappen doesn't like that. you know it's clear when checo has a car which is more suited to him he can be the driver they want him to be so um yeah i thought it was he did exactly the job that they needed him to do it was like france um yeah the battle with with hamilton and keeping hamilton at bay um which i didn't think that was gonna you know they had a tasty little battle didn't they but then i thought i'll give it another lap or two and hamilton will get past and then and then he didn't so yeah that's exactly what they hired him to do

and a race where tire conservation was key Checo Perez was the perfect person to be in that second Red Bull so yeah I think he can be very very pleased with that and it was good to see him on the pace and like Sam

said he's not been brilliant in the wet conditions this year so yeah that was good to see yeah in my view that holding off of Lewis Hamilton was the best thing that Sergio Perez has done all year. And I would include his winning back in that as well. I think that was the best thing he's done.

Now, the winning back who was impressive, but he did inherit it, whereas this was a positive action from Perez, which I do actually think contributed quite a lot to the overall race. We saw that Max Verstappen, when he went into the pits, he came out marginally ahead of Sergio Perez and then Lewis Hamilton. I think if Lewis Hamilton gets passed, I don't know whether they make that decision to go and box him. I think they actually keep him out in that spot,

and that might not have resulted in P2. Who knows? I think that could well have turned the entire race on its head if Hamilton gets past Perez. And it's not only the fact that he didn't get past, it's also the fact that the battling itself costs Hamilton a lot of time. The two of them battling did slow each other up a little bit, and that allowed Verstappen to have that pit stop gap over both drivers,

allowed him to very comfortably finish P2. Again, don't know how that goes down if Hamilton gets past Perez and they're looking at the time saying, well, if we box him now, he might come out behind Hamilton. What if those intermediate tyres hold on? What if he can actually keep the position ahead of him? Are we going to throw away points? So because of Perez holding it up,

they don't have to go through that whole decision-making process. He was great out there. That is easily one of his best races of the season so far. And I think overall, it's a big favour in his cap because I'm not sure whether other drivers who would have been in contention for that seat would have got the elbows out as much as Perez did there and kept him behind.

I think he did a great job. Now one team we want to speak about is Ferrari because they seem to have very good pace here this weekend. and for the most part they put together a pretty good result. Carlos Seines recovered from P19 to P8 for four points. Charles LeClair, on the verge of a podium for much of the race, just about finished off it for 12 points. And even so, they are just single digits away from McLaren.

I think it's about seven points or so between the two constructors. So, Sam, do you think based on what Ferrari were able to do this weekend, should they feel pretty confident in their battle against McLaren with just six races to go? I don't understand Ferrari. I know that's quite a vague thing to say, but they're so good in some places and then they are absolutely rubbish in other places

and the tracks that they are both good on and they're rubbish on don't make any sense. They're great around Monaco, which is incredibly aerodynamic-based, but then they were fantastic, both sites and the cler, around Turkey, which I would identify as a power track. So it's confused.

Also, I think what Ferrari have done is they've been a little bit more consistent with their just normal points scoring from both drivers. Yes, both drivers have picked up and cut the pogiums and have been brilliant all season. I'm really enjoying that Ferrari pairing. But I think McLaren are actually the ones that are letting themselves down a little bit here. I think that McLaren, they've got a race wing. You know, they have a one-two. They've had Norris who stuck it on the Pogueon multiple times. But yet there's only a few points between both teams.

I think Ferrari if they continue to just chip away, keep putting their drivers, let's say every race, fifth and sixth, fifth and sixth, fifth and sixth. I do think they are going to be able to mitigate the two or three big results that McLaren are able to get hold of. Ricardo is letting the side down over at McLaren, and we saw it today. He was not good enough for the entire race. Yes, even with that changing strategy,

he'd be the first to put on the new intermediates. He never really got it much further than he should have done. And Norris, again, wasn't really on the pace today. Hamilton absolutely blitz. passing, whereas Yuki Seno did a much better job at holding him back, and Ferrari were able to really capitalize it with both drivers. So, I think Ferrari can feel confident. I think Ferrari can feel excited by the last few races, and I think if they can be calm, if they can stop relying on their drivers to make all the strategy calls for them and actually think ahead for a moment, they could

actually come out with some really good results, and third place could be theirs, which I think would be a fantastic turnaround after what happened last season. So, yeah, this is a bit of a weird one. I didn't expect Ferrari to be this close to McLaren after what we've seen in the last few races. Maclaren ironically could have had maybe two or three wings in the last few Grand Prix and they haven't. They've only got the one. So I think McClarion have let themselves down when I think Ferrari have just been quietly plucking away in the background. So yeah, I think it's going really well. They should be excited. I think third place is definitely an option out for grabs. I mean overhauling a single points deficit in six races with two drivers versus two drivers.

it's certainly doable. No doubt about that whatsoever. And actually, I think early prediction for Austin, I think they will get into third by the end of the US Grand Prix, or at least they should do. McLaren we're never going to have a good race here at Istanbul, just based on their car and what it's good at and what it's not good at. They don't like long corners. They look at them and go, no, don't like you at all. Nah. Not fancying it. And that doesn't bow particularly. well for Austin. You know, if you think about sector one, it's pretty quick corners. I don't think they're going to be very quick through the first sector in Austin. And actually towards the end of the lap as well, you've got that sort of triple right hand before the last two corners. I don't

think they'll fare too well there either. They do have one massive long straight that they should be pretty good at. But I actually think Austin is going to be pretty similar to what we've seen here in that I think they will be up against it. I don't necessarily hold it against McCleck. Mlando Norris didn't hold Hamilton back at all. I think McLaren were, and this is strange to say, I think McLaren were the slowest teams, were the slowest team in a straight line this weekend. I think just because of how they set up the car

to account for what they believe to be a lack of down force, it caused Norris to be the slowest car in a straight line. So I wasn't surprised to see Hamilton blitz by him. But what... So I think overall, Ferrari definitely, have a chance to beat McLaren. The problem is, it's Ferrari. Ferrari... Ferrari... I don't want to say that Ferrari should be favourites to finish third. No, I do want to say it, because they are, they should be favourites to finish third, but it's Ferrari.

They will find a way to lose. You don't know what it's going to be. You don't know when it's going to come. You don't know how they're going to do it, but it's Ferrari. They'll find a way to suck because they're Ferrari. Honestly... It's not even today. You think, well, Carlos signs. He's making a great run back through the field. Hang on, let's just hold our driver here for a few seconds. Eight second pit stop.

Good job, guys. Wait, this isn't 2000. You're not refueling, you're morons. Come on. And then obviously, Shaul-La Claire is on the podium prior to any strategic decisions. After strategic decisions,

Shao-Laclair is not on the podium. How did that happen? Ferrari. Honestly, they'll find a way to mess things up somehow, but at least in terms of pace, in terms of the drivers that they've got, they've got a good chance of finishing P3. Harry, do you have confidence in Ferrari? I think you're absolutely bang on about,

I think Ferrari have the overall quicker car, but I trust McLaren more to execute these last races better, even if their car isn't well suited to the last. likes of Cota. But yeah, I absolutely agree with what you said there. I think it's, Ferrari could, should be the favourites, I think. They're more consistently in the points, as Sam said, whereas McLaren have got a few big results in there, obviously one of them being a win and a few podiums.

But yeah, theoretically Ferrari should be the ones who come away at the end of this year in third but like said it's uh it's Ferrari and and as much as as as fast as as Charlerc is and and color signs for that matter there would there would be something that that gets in the way of him winning or getting on the podium um yeah but anyway I you know I totally agree totally agree with what he said I think Ferrari should be the ones fate in you know the favorites going going into these last or the remaining races of the year. But I just trust the

structure, the management structure at McLaren and, you know, Sotchi aside, they've made some good calls this year. So, yeah, I just kind of trust them more to bring home the bacon. Or the vegetarian bacon. That's the second time I've said that in two podcasts. I'll find something else to bring home next time. Thanks for that. Appreciate it.

Shopping with Harry, a new segment on the podcast. Yeah, what am I going to buy? you this week. Probably a brunch bar. Because you're boring. Come on, Nutraing. If you want a sponsor

the podcast, please get in touch. I'm well up for it. Yeah, but brunch bars are from Capri's mate. Oh, a Nutra game sponsor. Yeah, but a brunch bar is a type of food. I get that they call their brunch bars

brunch bars, but you also just have. No, no. I'm being very specific about Cabri's brunch bars and not the raisin ones. They can get in the bin. I mean in chocolate chip. Oh, just do the chocolate.

chip ones. The raisin ones are the worst thing ever created. Lewis Hamilton is a chocolate chip cabries brunch bar is the king. Yeah, cabries, get in touch. Nikita Mazavin's from brazen ones. It's like egg with a raisin brunch bar. Again, I've got nothing against brunch bars, but comparing

one of the greatest drivers in the world to a brunch bar is insulting. With one of the greatest snacks in the world, Ben. I feel sorry for you in your life, Harry, honestly. Sad little life, Harry. What a sad little life. Sorry.

Sorry, guys. For good sake, it's bloody podcast. Honestly, sometimes this podcast, all the time, this podcast, it's a whirlwind. Every time. And never a good one. All right. Last,

the last topic for today. Going into turn one, we saw, at least in qualifying, pretty much everyone at one point, run deep into term one. So, as they were all lining up on the grid, I'm thinking there is no chance they all make it through turn one without any damage. And actually, the carnage was probably less than I expected, but there was still an

incident and that was Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso, two drivers who qualified very well on the Saturday, they collided. Pierre Gasly went along okay. Fernando Alonso fell back about 10 positions or so. There's Fernando Alonso that was spun around. The stewards decided a five second time penalty was the right call for Pierre Gasley. Sam, right call, wrong call. Well, we just spoke about brunch bars and the perfect accompaniment to a brunch bar is a sandwich and Pierre Gasly was in a sandwich, as he declared very grumpily over the radio. I think this is a terrible call. I think Gasly can't go anywhere on the inside. He's got a red ball coming up to coming up his inside.

You don't just stick a wheel into Copps' corner. Well, Sergio Perez stuck a wheel in the inside of Turkey Turn 1, and it worked out for him because he moved himself into a very strong position. But what's Ghazly going to do at this point? He's got Fernando alongside a long-so two-time world champ go around his outside, which he's already started breaking at this point, so he can't suddenly adjust the speed of the car there. Fernando, of course, is being outrageously creative and brilliant to try and make up places

at the start. We all know that Fernando loves the start of the Grand Prix. I bet Lank Stroggs watches Fernando alongside's previous. clips so he gets his mega starts. And Perez is coming down your inside. So there's a little tag there. And it is the lightest of tags. It's just very unfortunate.

It's on a damp trap that's on the wet line that's curbing. No damage was incurred. And it's lap one. And I don't understand this precedent that for the last maybe season, season and a half, we've seen the thought process from the stewards that, you know, 95% of instincts on lap one, unless they're incredibly serious, are waved off as racing incidents because these things happen when that many cars are that close together. And I will hark back to Charles Lecler,

tagging the inside of Lance Stroll in Russia on lap one, further into the lap on lap one, and got absolutely got even a remote warning from the Stewards for exactly the same type of inkling. I would argue that actually Lank Strong and Shaulcler had more space and time to deal with something at that point as well. So I think five seconds here is harsh. I don't think it should have been looked into investigating

if we're going on what the Skewigs had previously. If we'd had seen five second time penalties for three, first I think it's everywhere else across the entire season, I'd be all right with it. But this just feels a little bit tough for Gadsden. I don't think this one was deserved. Ari? Penalty? Not a penalty.

No, not a penalty. A bizarre one. And it was clear. Even if we had some limited replays of it, to be honest, but it was clear that he was in a sandwich. And he didn't have anywhere to go. and I don't think Alonzo should be blamed for being there because I think it was ambitious, but it was a good move and I think if they'd all got through the corner,

it would have stuck for him. But equally, Perez didn't have anywhere to go as well because he did have a cheeky Czechos-Perez at the inside. So don't understand why there's a penalty at all. It's not the same as, and I know precedence, a badge to go with on penalties, but it's not the same as Alonzo absolutely ramming, poor old Mick Schumacher.

and that gets the same penalty. So I didn't understand how that works. And then you go to, you know, earlier on in the year, Charles wrecking bull LeCler at the Styrian GP when he ran into almost everyone, including Pierre Gazley on lap one and absolutely wrecked his race, didn't get anything.

So I don't quite understand, it's just, well, we say it every time, it's just no consistency. and I don't quite It's almost as if they were like well we've got to give a penalty to Alonzo for ramming Mick

but he was already spun around in the same way so we better give a penalty to Gasly I was like well no there are two different incidents the Alonzo one on Mick Shemeca fair the other one not fair because it's not the same situation and there's not much

Ghazley could have done so um stewards put us in the box I swear come on I swear you'd all have penalties If you know what's good for you, F1, you will completely ignore what Sam just said. So I've always had kind of a theory that on lap one of a race,

Charles Leclair, let's say, could get out of his car, grab Yuki Sonoda, force him out of his car, perform a tombstone pile driver on the track. Poor Yuki. And the stewards would probably say, you know what, It's lap one. We'll let it slide. It's all right. And then suddenly Pierre Gassley nudges Fernando Alonzo. And it's like, well, that's a five second penalty, isn't it?

Get slapped, son. Usually you could get away with murder on the first lap. And then suddenly it's like, well, no, Pierre, you can't do that, mate. Maybe they just didn't see that Perez was also on his inside. Yes, if you're being picky, he probably had a little bit more space to work with. and there was a touch of understeer into Alonzo, sure. But it's turn one, lap one, three wide, and he's in the middle of it. Come on.

Did Ocon, or whichever Renault turned the other Renae around last year, it was very similar incident because they had Hamilton at the inside. Did that Renault get a penalty? No, to my knowledge, no penalties given for that lap one incident. It's exactly the same incident. Yeah, like they're usually. Hamilton nouged the Renault, whereas Perez didn't nudge Gasly. But, yeah, pretty much copy and paste, no penalty given.

Well, yeah. I mean, then on this basis, then maybe Hamilton should have got a penalty in that incident. If he's the first nudger of the nudging chain. But I don't agree with that at all, but that's what we're saying here, which is just, yeah. All aboard the nudge chain. I've jumped down. off the body type change. Chew-shoe, but the...

Gouches. It's not a good phrase. Honestly, maybe, and I've got a theory here, the stewards actually listen to our podcast and have heard us over the last year complaining about how they will let anyone get away with anything on the first lap. So the second there's an incident,

they're like, we've got to keep the late breaking guys happy. We'll penalise him. That's not what we meant, guys. We know you're listening. That's not what we meant. Michael, just come on to the show and we'll have a chat and we'll sort it all out. It's okay. We'll get your brunch bar.

What do you reckon the easiest way to contact Michael is email? I reckon shouting. Yeah. Michael. Stewards.com. FIA.a.com. What do we read? Let's send off a group email with all of them in and see which one comes back.

All right. It's going to be interesting to find that. out. So we'll get on that now, as we'll depart from this podcast episode. We'll be back midweek, of course, where, as we referenced, we might well be talking about Andretti potentially entering Formula One, and I'm sure some other interesting topics as well. But until then, Sam, if you wouldn't mind, getting us out of here. Folks, Valtry Bottas has won a race. It's happened. I have to go wallow in my loss and not be a sore loser. If you do want to get involved with the silly forfeits choosing, then again, get down in the Discord. It's in the Gascar.

description of the podcast that you are listening to with your ears. Come and join the lovely community. Oh, my voice is going. They're all absolutely lovely over there. Let's know what you'll think of the race. Give us a shout over on Twitter at Elbraking. We're always chatting over there as well. Lots of silliness, lots of racing analysis.

Usually more silliness, though. Thanks for coming on to the podcast. Hit the follow button if you're near around here. We're here literally every single wings face like Thursday, and we always do a review after every single race as well. So for all your silly F1 content, please. call around because we love having it. In the meantime, having Samuel Sage.

I've been Ben Hawking. And I've been Harry and remember. Keep breaking late. Chew-choo, Mother Nudgers! Forties! Find more great shows or join the team at sport-ssocial.com.com.

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