The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Did Lewis Hamilton deserve a penalty? | 2020 Austrian GP Review | Episode 56

Episode Date: July 5, 2020

After a crazy opening round of the 2020 F1 season in Austria, the Late Braking boys breakdown all the talking points from the race - including that clash between Hamilton and Albon...Make sure to SUBSCRIBE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to look out for new episodes every Thursday and Grand Prix Sundays. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking Formula One podcast. And well, have you all caught your breath? Because that was a thrilling first race of the season. Valtrey Bottas taking victory at the Austrian Grand Prix, followed by Charles Leclair and Lando Norris,

blaming his first podium of his career, the third youngest driver, to ever stand upon the roster. Guys, Harry Ead, Samuel Sage, along with me, what a thriller. What a great race. I mean, Michael Jackson will be proud of that one, wouldn't he? Strait's number one.

Absolute thriller. My God, it's good to be back, and that was such an incredible race to come back and see. I mean, pure race of attrition. The curbs were out to get absolutely everyone. And we're already filled to the brim with controversy. I was concerned as Vastappan dropped out

that it was just going to be a Mercedes 1-2 in the bag and then all hell broke loose in the last 20 laps that's just classic F1 so good to be back Yeah and I think I think going into the race

we were fairly content with whatever we could take it's been so long since the last race I think we would have taken a dull one anything you know something was better than nothing, but we got an absolute thriller towards the end. Like I say, Valtrey Bottas taking the victory ahead of Leclair and Norris, the other points scorers, Hamilton, signs, Perez, Ghazly, Ocon, Giovanni, and Vettel, claiming the last point. Overall, nine retirements in the race.

I'm struggling to think of the last season opener that was such a race of attrition. Easy to forget, obviously, that this was the first race of the season, even though it's happened so far into 2020. We're going to be talking about a lot of things that happened during the race. We're going to be talking about whether we were impressed by Valtry Bottas, of course, leading the championship after one Grand Prix, Red Bull's conduct throughout the weekend, and speaking about Lando Norris' first podium.

But first of all, we're going to get to Alex Albon, who didn't feature in the points. It was looking like he might do for much of the Grand Prix. He was holding down third place on fresher, soft tires, challenging Lewis Hamilton for P2 when they had a collision. Lewis Hamilton receiving a five second penalty, which saw him finish fourth rather than the second he did on the circuit. Sam, I'll go to you first on this one.

Was the penalty a just one? And would Alburn have featured in the race for the win? So I think from the online reaction, I think I'm probably just in the minority. I think it was a close call. I think the skewerings pick a little all over the place all race weekend, which is not doing well once again for confidence boosting. But on the on board replay,

Lewis Hamilton holds his steering wheel at full lock to the right. You are still will to will. Albon was fully within what is considered the track limit. Two wheels on the curve, two wheels on the track. Yes, he was ahead, but also attacking around the outside while Hamilton held the racing line. I generally think this is on the brink of racing incident. I do think that a five second pen is a little harsh. Albon had all the time in the world.

He had what, five, six laps in the best opportunity, he could have easily taken that to Hamilton. He could then have approached Bottas. I generally think that a little bit more experience, a little bit more prowess in terms of racing ability. It could have proven to be a race winner, but instead, he rushed it. He got a little too big for his boots

going up a six-time world champion, and I think he tried an advantageous move at the absolute first opportunity that you could get, and it cost him. I don't think it should have been a five-second penalty. We've seen incidents such as Verstappen shunted, the clur off the track at this track last time out where there was contact made.

There was absolutely no penalty given. We've seen many other incidents where no penalties have been given. And on board, Hamilton does nothing, absolutely nothing to get back in the way of Albon. Apart from literally spinning the car off to the right, I'm not sure what more he could have done. Maybe slowed down a bit, but Wheel to Wheel to Wheel Racing is Wheel to Wheel to Wheel to Racing. Tires that are that old, it's always going to be tough. I just think Albon needs to have a little more patience.

I'm not saying Hamilton is perfectly innocent in this, but I don't think he's guilty. doing enough to warrant a five second penalty. But, you know, still picked up fourth. And, of course, it means certainly brilliant Lando Norris. What a boy. What a boy gets to stand on the podium for the first time. I'm going to drink some tasty milk, even on Ratsos and tolerant later. I'm so excited.

I'm so excited that he's on that podium because as much as I think it's a bad call, a bloody good results come out of it. So there you go. That's racing for you. That's the F1 we love. So, you know, all fair and love of war. On to the next weekend. We'll get on to you.

For the effect, please, though. Yeah, Alex Albon, of course, retiring from the race in the end, not actually due to the incident itself, meaning Red Bull walk away with zero points, and we'll get onto the Lando Norris podium that resulted from that very soon. Harry, do you think this was Albin being impatient, or was this a slam dunk penalty? This is, so in my initial thoughts were this a slam dunk penalty,

and I do still think the penalty was just but it's such a tricky one because yes Albon I mean the penalty wasn't given to Hamilton because Albon was impatient obviously but Album could have waited a couple more corners but you know he had the fresher ties

he obviously had the grip to go around the outside but yeah in my view Albon was in front of Hamilton and I know Hamilton was he was you know it wasn't running him wide he was squeezing him, I'd say, but he wasn't trying to run him off the track. And I just think it's the result of what was such a minor bit of contact, because at any other part of the car,

they might have just been shoved wide slightly, as, you know, Vestappan did to LeClaire last year. And there wouldn't be a penalty involved. So I think the result, it was quite a dramatic result for album going spinning around. I don't believe Hamilton did it maliciously. We know he would not do anything like that. But I think the. penalty was fair. It's such a tough call though. And to your point, would Alvin have been in the

hunt for the win? I think he probably would have been because it was clear that he had the extra grip and the Mercedes were not limping, but they were concerned about their car towards the end of the race. So I think he definitely could have been in with a shout. So I feel for him, I know Hamilton didn't do it on purpose. I think the penalty was fair. But yeah, a bit gutted for Album. Again, that's another podium gone out the window, but I'm sure there will be another chance. Yeah, going around the outside of that corner is a tough ordeal. Fair play to Albon for trying to make it work. It was entertaining seeing them go wheel to wheel. Unfortunately, how it ended. And yeah, I think Albon would have been in with a shot of the victory, considering how quickly he managed to get on the back of Lewis Hamilton.

He was able to clear Hamilton there. I have no doubt that he had caught up to Valtry, whether he would have passed him or not. I'm not sure. I personally think he would have done on those soft tires. He was looking really dangerous. And I think that almost contributed to his downfall because he realized that the quicker he could get past Lewis Hamilton, the quicker he can get up to Valtrey Bortas, the quicker he can get into the lead of this race and not only take his first podium of his career, but also his first win.

And I think being inspired by that, being spurred on by it, was his downfall. If he didn't have a chance of the victory, he might well have been a bit more patient. If this was over P7 or P5, I think he would have taken a back seat, realized that there were better opportunities to come in later laps when DRS was going to be reinstated

and use that to make the overtake. And I think another driver in his position, say it was Hamilton on Albin, say it was the exact reverse. I have no doubt that Hamilton wouldn't have tried that around the outside and he would have waited. I know it was late in the Grand Prix, but there were still plenty of laps to go. And I think considering Bottas wasn't that far down the road,

Albon didn't necessarily need to get past at that moment, even if he thought that he did. A massive shame for him. I think he did luck in a little bit in terms of strategy, a bit similar to Brazil. I think the safety cars brought him back in. The Red Bull strategy helped him out massively. But nonetheless, I mean, you're with a top team like Red Bull,

you take advantage when you can. So unlucky from Melbourne in that respect. In terms of the actual penalty itself, I believe it was a penalty. You know, Albin is in front, and then Hamilton understands into him. I think it's fairly click up, to be perfectly honest. And, you know, Hamilton doesn't get involved in too many of these incidents, and I agree with you that I don't think it was malicious.

I don't think there was any intention behind it. But ultimately, you know, Albin was there. He was well within his rights to be there. And Hamilton, with at least half of the track to use, didn't use it. you know, whether you can believe that he was too far into the corner to compensate, fair enough. But when there's a car on your left, who has already got a wheel in front, you have to respect that he's there.

You have to respect the track limits. And yeah, I don't think Alba made a great decision in going for it at that point. But the fact that he did, it means that Hamilton should have been penalised and he was. You've got to say, as well, one of the reasons that Gassley was dropped last year was a lack of going for it essentially. We've discussed whether it was right to drop Gasly at all, but Albon is at least showing what the Red Bull want from him. He's not afraid to go toe to toe with the likes of Lewis Hamilton,

which he's now done on a couple of occasions in his short career. Yeah, that's true. But you have to consider if Albin ends up, and I'm not saying it was Albin's fault, but if Albin ends up retiring or at least going out of the points in a situation like that, and he's losing, say, 15 or 18 points. Gassley's sitting back and ending up finishing third or fourth is a better result.

So I think there's benefits and drawbacks to both responses. I think you see the likes of the likes of Leclair and Albin who are willing to go for it. Whenever they see the opportunity, Leclair had one of those opportunities in the race itself. And you get races like, say, Gassley and I think are a bit more conservative. And I don't necessarily think that's always a bad thing. and I think they tend to mop up points when they can get the opportunity. And I mean, it's a short championship, obviously. We don't know how short it's going to be at this point.

Just looking at it from a Red Bull perspective as well, with Max Verstappen out of the race, the responsibility on Alex Albin's shoulders was that much more. He was their only source of potential points from about lap 15 onwards. And at that point, does Albon need to be, do you think, Sammy needs to just be a bit more, I don't want to say intelligent, but just a bit more streetwise and understand that there's a bigger picture to be working on here. I mean, I think intelligent is actually the correct term.

I'm a big fan of Albon. He's a lovely bloke. I think he's got real talent. I think he could become a big name in Formula One. But this is two times in a row now where I think he's reacted far too quickly at a positive situation. And it takes a top, top driver to realize that actually opportunities come your way and you can be patient. You need to be careful. You need to do good wheel to wheel racing

and be aware when you are going to come out on top and not put yourself at unnecessary risk. One of your drivers, your teammate, in a season where you can realistically possibly take away your construction's championship, depending if races carry on going the way they have done, is out of the race. Gone.

You are the only car on the race for a long time. You've got the chance to at least finish third. And if you're a little bit more patient, you could go on to win the race. And now both cars in that team have no points. No points at all. We don't know realistically if that contact speaks. spurred on the DNF for album.

I know it wasn't directly related. There was no direct damage, you know, simple technically caused by it. But the knocks around this track were obviously large. We don't know if something was caused by that contact or coming off onto the gravel cause for that. We just don't know. It's silly decisions like that that put a lot of jeopardy

at place for your race. You throw them away 15 to 18 points. You throw away a possible 25 points because you've gone first sharks. Here we go. I'm going for it. It's not good enough from someone who walks be a world champion, in my opinion. Yeah, I can understand the ideas to give Hamilton the

penalty. I can see that. I can understand it. I can understand both points. But Albon, as much as he's in the right on the penalty choice, needs to be a smarter driver because he's just making silly mistakes and he's throwing away, in my opinion, his own fault. Two penalties now, two podium, sorry, now. And that's a lot of points that he can have had for that Red Bull team. And it's decisions like that to separate Albon and Destappen, or Hamilton, an Albon or Hamilton of Bottas, you know. This is where world champions are made and this is where second drivers are made. And Albon just isn't doing enough for me at the moment.

It's not bad. He's being a second driver, but when that second driver steps up to the first driver, because your driver's out, you need to do a little bit more. Wasn't really enough for me when it comes to attacking from a Red Bull driver. And I think this might speak more to Mercedes, but, I mean, Red Bull themselves are now sat on zero points, 37 behind Mercedes. after just one Royal Prix. And, you know, Mercedes were troubles that they endured during the race.

One driver picking up a penalty, which saw him drop two positions, and they still have that championship advantage. It says a lot about the team. So, yeah, work to be done from Red Bulls' perspective. Alex Albin himself won the vote as driver of the day, which leads us nicely on to giving our own opinions on that front. Harry, I'll start with you. Who was your driver of the day?

a lot of contenders here I mean, Bottas, you've got to give it to him I know Hamilton started further back but he held off pressure, you know, no matter what issues he had technically, I think he held on pretty well there. Norris, can't ignore Norris,

I know he was kind of gifted slightly, but he was still in it to win it. A very bold move against Perez who bizarrely left that door very wide open. And another one was Gassley, who kind of slipped under the radar, but I think he got, was it a P7 in the end? Yeah.

Yeah, I thought he had a really solid race. Just kind of all through the chaos went rather unnoticed. And, I mean, Kaffirate was having a relatively good race as well until the tyre blew up. But, yeah, Gassley. So, who should I decide on? I will go for, I'll go for Lando, just because of the joy of the podium. But there's a lot of great drives out there today. And we still wait on.

I mean, obviously, Sallin's got that podium for McLaren Lassie. we still wait for McLaren's first real podium. It will happen at some point. Sam, who did you think was driver at the day? Well, as Harry just said, there are actually so many brilliant contenders. It was such an eventful race. How can you not have so many great contenders? We saw bloody overtakes going left, right and centre.

We saw great strategic moves. We saw taking advantage of other players. I'm on line, skill. I'm in the virtual world. I'm not going out of the race. honestly it could be a number of that top ten and I'm still a bit gutting for Latifie for crying out loud so yeah I think Harry's got a great call with Lando

I think Shole the Clare deserves a mention the fact that he started seventh on the grid and yes okay due to a penalty but still got himself into the position to finishing second place in a Ferrari that clearly isn't that strong when look where his teammate is the big Seb that we all love

all the way down in 10th place but I am I am going to go for the milkman I'm sorry the resilience The car clearly skill isn't up to scratch and he outdrove his teammate, who's the one off to Ferrari. Not him. He's the one off to Ferrari. So Landau out drove his teammate. He was racing against Gengs that theoretically a fast in a straight line. Of course, some great maneuvers was calm, great pit stops from him and the team. Honestly, it was an all-round stunning race. He deserves that podium. I'm ecstatic to see Landon Norris get a reward after such a difficult

season last time out, longer reliability issues, of course. So yeah, for me, Lando is the Mando. Big third place. Love it. Drive of the day. Mando. Lando is the Mando confirmed. However, I'm also going to agree with it. I think he was driving the day, and not Alex Albin, as the vote suggested. He challenged Max Verstappen at the start of Grand Prix. It was fairly evident early on that the McLaren didn't quite have the pace of the cars around it. Of course, Lando Norris did a wonderful job in qualifying fourth,

but starting third where he ended up finishing. And I think from the start, it was fairly obvious that he had outdriven that car in Collie, and they were going to be quicker guys behind. But after Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albin had got passed, which was to be expected, the floodgates didn't open and he didn't allow other drivers to get past after that. Sergio Perez, for a time, was threatening him quite a lot in that first stint. and he did a really good job of keeping him behind, first of all, and then extending that gap.

And, yeah, I think Norris, even without all of the safety car shenanigans that happened, I think he would have secured a good race finish regardless. And, you know, the safety cars, it caused him to show a few other skills as well. He had to defend from Carlos Sines for a couple of laps, which he did a very good job at doing. He didn't allow him to get past. Very clinical move on Sergio Perez. I think Sergio's Perez defense was a bit.

suspect, but, you know, Norris, he still went for it and he took advantage when he had that opportunity. And that last lap, you know, drivers are great drivers come to fruition when it's all on the line. You know, when it's crunch time, the best drivers respond. And that's what Landon Norris did. He knew that he needed to get within five seconds of Hamilton. It ended up being only two temps inside of that mark. And he did it because he got the fastest lap of the race, which is another point for him. But, you know, that last lap, he had to respond. He had to get out there and do the absolute quickest lap of anyone in that Grand Prix. And he did it. So fair play to him, responded when he needed to deserve that podium. Landon Norris.

And going to the other end of the spectrum, the worst driver of the day, not something anyone wants to achieve. But, Harry, who are you going for? I mean, yeah, like I said, this tricky one because there were so many great drives out there and also most of the people that retired. In fact, I think all of them were all mechanical issues and they're really crashed into anyone. But I'm probably going to have to go for Sebi Vett, I'm afraid,

just because of that very clumsy. I think Rojohn's a contender too, but yeah, clumsy spin with, ironically, the person who's being replaced by next year. Yeah, I think he, I watched a quick interview just before we started recording. And he doesn't sound like he enjoyed driving that car at all or race. He said something along the lines of.

I'm surprised it was only one spin, which doesn't sound great. So, yeah, but, you know, there's another Sebastian Vettel spin, which just adds to the memes, doesn't it? But, yeah, it wasn't a great performance from him, unfortunately. Yeah, and it's a shame because even though he did start outside the top 10, the, you know, the circumstances kind of played to his favour. He had tire choice. and the amount of incidents that happened in front of him,

he did end up picking up a point, but it could have been a lot more than that. Sam, who you're going for for this one? Pronto, Sebastian. Spinala. How can you not go for Sebastian Vetter when your teammate finishes in second place? There was only, what, four places between them at the start,

all that carnage, Sebastian Vettel's experience, the entire advantage that he had, the car was working just fine. Like, okay, he may not even enjoy driving, the car, but everyone else was having some kind of a mechanical engine issue around him. He didn't go anywhere. And that's stupid, stupid, stupid move, you stupid boy.

Going up the inside like that on, was it on the McLaren? Yeah, it was honestly one of the most amateur moves I've seen a world champion make possibly ever. Why are you trying to stick your nose in there, mate? You're trying to stick your nose where it don't belong, son. And it did not pay off. Round he goes again. Another meme is created.

Oh, Seb, I want you to do so well. I want you to kick it to the man. I want to show Ferrari what they're missing, even with this dog of a car, and you've let me down. But he was, honestly, the worst driver on the grid. And I'm really disappointed by it. But unfortunately, Sebastian Vettel is my worst driver of the day.

Yeah, and it's hard to go against that, really. And in terms of the move where he hit Carlos Sines, I'm not convinced it was an actual attempt at an overtake, but I don't think it really matters either way because it was either an intended move and it just wasn't on and it was a bad decision or he's just locked up and gone straight into him in which case it's poor driving

so he doesn't really win either way on that. I am going to go for someone else. My apologies go out to Dan at F1E reviews but I'm going to go for Romang Grojean on here. It was a poor race. First of all, he was eliminated in Q1. He was slower than his teammate, Kevin Magnuson. It wasn't by a lot,

but, you know, he still would have wanted to escape Q1. Still had a chance, as everyone did in this race, to make something of it. And, you know, the retirement itself wasn't his fault. However, going into term four earlier on in the race, he did have that spin, was forced to go onto the hard tires, I think earlier than every other driver due to that spin. And, you know, he had a bit of a trip on the gravel. It was just a scruffy race. And, you know, I don't think there was, there were many drivers who had a fault

race. But yeah, Grojean's experience really should have counted for more here and accounted for nothing in the end. It wouldn't have been worth anything because of his DNF regardless, but he should have been in a better position to start with. So, yeah, I'm going to go Roman Grosjeon.

Two things, which are quite funny. Obviously, we've had the longest time between F1 races in history of Formula One, which is crazy. And I love that at the end of the 2019 season, the meme was that Roman Grosjean moan moan about his breaks. And not stop knowing about his brakes. They come back to the first race of the season of both

cars absolutely lose their brakes. Also, box office Magnuson with the impressive spin while flying off the track. Love to see it. The second thing, could we just get a mention of how bad Kimmy Rikinger was? Like, he was nowhere, all race. Giafangzi, I think, was generally driving better than him. I know the car isn't great, but he was driving so poorly, but a tyre decided that of adding up for this and left, and then he had nothing to do. So for me, Kimmy was also a contender for a worse driver of the day. I think you could... Garbage.

Well, I think just anything with a Ferrari power unit is apparently garbage. And I mean, we can speak about whether that's too much of a coincidence. But yeah, I know, especially in qualifying, all three of the Ferrari powered cars were at least half a second slower than their time in 2019, which raises a few eyebrows at the very least. Moving on back to the front, back to Mercedes, because of course Valtrey Botan, version 17.6 managed to win the Grand Prix. There were a few hairy moments in there. Hamilton closed up to about three or four temps at best

and was within his DRS range for quite a long time. He saw off that fret. And obviously Hamilton didn't even end up finishing P2. Valdry Bottas, Sam, were you impressed by his performance there? No, not really. I think it was a standard leading performance where you've got the best car on the grid. If anything, I was a little disappointed

before the safety car at how close Hamilton was getting despite having to fight through three cars of traffic, getting stuck behind a red bowl, and then that gap came down from eight seconds down to two and a half seconds before the safety car came out. Bottas never really looked like them pulling away

after the safety cars went back in. Honestly, Bottas did well. I'm not saying it was a bad drive from Bottas. He won the race. You can't really say that is a negative thing, but I'm not particularly, press. I'm not wowed. I think he did exactly what he needed to do. It was a solid drive from the guy that starts on pole and then doesn't come across anyone else throughout the race. So, yeah, I think

the likes of Max, I think the likes of Vessel, I think the likes of Hamilton. If they were all that car, I think it would have been a lot more convincing. But I'm glad that he's off to a good start. I'm glad that he might have that confidence. I'm glad that we might get a proper, proper scrap now for the whole season. Of course, back to Oscar again next weekend. And he's clearly enjoying it around there. So I'm hoping that this carries on and we get a real jewel. Maybe Rosberg-Hamilton-esque, that would be great to see. But in terms of impressed,

no, I'd like to see a little bit more outright pace, outright control of that race. It never felt too confident, in my opinion. But glad he got the win. Harry, impressed by you would have been? What would have to do, Sam? Would he have to win by like a minute? No, he just just have to not lose six seconds of lead time

when he's got the ultimate game. He's true. I think that he was definitely just struggling more on those first set of first set of ties. Was I impressed by Bottas? It was just, he's been solid all weekend. And Sam mentioned he does do well around Austria

because he's won there before, which does bode well for him again next weekend. Yeah, he was on the pacing quality and I know he fell off on his second attempt. And maybe that did Hamper Hamilton's second attempt as well. but I thought generally he was in good form this weekend. We've seen this last year. He started off the year well.

I know that was a while ago in 2019, but hopefully he can continue that form now. Yeah, and to the point, his qualifying performance was impressive. I know it was very close between Bottas and Hamilton at the end, but we know Hamilton is notoriously difficult to be in any qualifying setting, but particularly at the first race of the year, I understand that it usually comes to Australia rather than Austria.

But having said that, it's still impressive that Bottas was able to qualify on poll. He was helped out by Hamilton's three second penalty and, you know, we'll get, sorry, three-place penalty and we'll get on to that in a bit in terms of the qualifying penalty that he got. But, you know, he took advantage of it. And yes, it was concerning how much Hamilton was able to eat into that lead. I think he would have got there without the safety car. It would have obviously taken a lot longer because Hamilton was closing in by a few temps each lap.

And I think Hamilton on the day was the quicker driver. But ultimately, even the likes of Lewis Hamilton, even the likes of the very best that have gone into the sport, no one is going to be at their quickest, the quickest drive of on circuit every single time. It just doesn't happen. So, you know, the very best will find a way to win. when they're not at their best. And I really think Bottas today found a way to win.

And I don't think that was his best score on pre. I think he was good. I think he had a good performance. And he did a good job of keeping Lewis Hamilton behind when he was in DRS range. And I know that they were having sort of issues with the gearbox and making sure that they were staying off the curbs. But that did apply to both cars.

Yeah, I think he did a good job of winning when he wasn't at his best. And that's the mark of a great drive. so yeah impressed by him his race management was good and I think it's what's made Hamilton such a champion is that Hamilton can have off weekends and still eke out a result and Bottas I think has done that today I don't think it was bad by any stretch of the imagination but I think Hamilton was the quicker driver and Hamilton's not the driver that's won so fair place of him well done Walter good old Walter and hopefully I mean I don't you know want to be to, I don't want to get into one driver camp or the other, but for the sake of

the championship and the fight, it'd be great if Bottas can carry this on and actually give us a fight because by the looks of it, there might not be another driver on the grid that can do it based on how good that Mercedes was out there. And to speak on the race as a whole, as I said, that they were struggling with those issues with the gearbox. Both drivers were told by James vows himself to stay off the curbs. It was presented as an urgent ear. And it was presented as an urgent issue. Harry, do you think that the guys in the strategic corner of Mercedes managed this race well? They didn't let Hamilton pass when they were very close to one another. Do you think that they worked this race well? It's a different one because it is the first race of the season. So you don't

want to really see team orders. It wasn't a clear team order of don't pass, but it was obviously that they were concerned about both cars. And you've got such an advantage. And, you know, despite how dominant that car looked during the race, look how crazy a race can turn out and doesn't mean you're always going to win them. So they know that when you're in that position, you've always going to make the most of it and bring home the most points possible. So on that side, yeah, I think they did manage it well. I know they didn't actually come out of the one, two in the end.

But that kind of proves their own point, doesn't it? They want to manage that one too. So yeah, from that side, they did manage it well. from a racing perspective, you know, it's not what you want to see. We want to see them to go toe to toe to, but I can understand it, to be honest, it's fair dues.

And especially when you don't know how many points are on offer this season. Every point, it really counts this year. So, yeah, sensible choice, but you don't love to see it. Yeah, I think that's fair enough. Sam, do you think that the team managed this sensibly?

Yeah, no, yeah, no. I feel like, we should be able to see cars race always. The drivers should be informed on the health of their cars. I'm more than happy with that. I'm more than happy to be told, you know, you keep going on the curbs. You're going to damage your car.

You keep going on the curves, the car will have to be retired, or you'll lose engine power, or the gearbox will fail. You've been warned. You can attack if you want, but if the car fails, that is now on you.

I would rather that be the message sent to the drivers. So they know it's a choice thing. It's, okay, I can go for the lead, but if I push this car, I might retire. So in that case, yes, Mercedes kind of gave the right message to say, you're going to retire if we carry on the way we're going. We need to finish this race. So I think for the early part of the race, it was all right.

It was all right. Not what I want to hear, but it was okay. For the latter part of the race, once Hamilton's penalty had been dished out. And may I just say for this race, the stewards, and we'll get on to stewards actually probably later, but in terms of speed of one, the timings of Landon Norris at the end and the deliverance of that penalty for Lewis Hamilton.

It was all done so quickly, I appraised them for it because it kept the excitement going. But on the latter of the race management, realistically, I think they could have asked Bottas to move over for Hamilton and then asked for a gap to be maintained. And they could have gained more points had they managed the relationship between those two drivers at the top a little better. It's a bit sketchy. It's a little bit uncertain. we haven't really seen it happen before, but they could have easily radioed to Lewis and said, you're going to pass Bottas,

we're going to let you win the race, but if you take the Mickey here and you go too far more than five seconds in front of Bottas, then we will not let this happen again and he will be allowed the advantage at some other point or something like that. But I generally think that they could have managed the end a little better. I think there was a chance to get Hamilton on the podium

and they could have had more points. So I don't think it was ideal at the end for them. Difficult to do, of money to make those difficult choices. And I think it can be handled just a little bit better. But yeah, overall, they did a relatively good job. It was a tough scenario to be in. Yeah, and I think with the amount of triple-headers we're going to be seeing this year

and how many races they're going to be able to get into the number of weeks we have left in the year, even from Mercedes and the money and the resources they have, I can understand them being conservative. You know, there was no threat at that point from Alex Alburn or indeed any car for mind. The only threat was to themselves, whether they destroyed their own race, whether that would be through Bottas and Hamilton gliding or by one of them getting on the curbs too often and damaging their car. So I can completely understand why they've done it from a racing perspective. Yes, of course, it isn't brilliant, but you can't say to Mercedes they shouldn't have done it

for that sake. That's not their priority and that's understandable that it isn't. So I've got no problems with that at all. Yeah, to your point later on in the race, Sam, was it an opportunity for them to switch Bottas and Hamilton? You have to remember, obviously, Hamilton was in a race with Norris in terms of timing, if not on track, but LeClaire

was there as well, and LeClau wasn't all that far behind, so I'm not sure whether it would have been too risky to put Bottas in the clutches of LeClaire, LeCle with momentum, getting DRS. I think it would have been touch and go and maybe too risky to be worth it.

And yeah, I would have understood if they tried to work something out. I don't think actually, I don't think Hamilton would have extended to five seconds with the amount of laps that there were left. So I don't think that would have been an issue. And I think Bottas could have claimed that he wasn't holding up Hamilton

at that stage at the Grand Prix. It's always tough to say when someone gets to within about one second, eight-tenths, it's not always easy to see whether a car is holding the other one up. But yeah, I can understand why they didn't do it with Chau-Laclair lurking. I know that Ferrari wasn't as great as we'd hoped it would be, but it was still a threat at that point, so I understand it.

Moving on to some off-the-track situations this weekend. So Red Bull were very busy behind the scenes in terms of forting Mercedes efforts. and we'll look at both of the things they did separately. So first of all, they protested Das, and they did this on the Friday, wasn't it? Yeah, they protested Das and whether it should be allowed. I think they claimed it was part of the suspension rather than the steering, and for that reason it shouldn't have been allowed. And then later on in the weekend, they asked the stewards to have a review

into their initial clearing of Hamilton for his yellow flag infringement, qualifying and they change their minds on that. Sam, just looking at both incidents, what did you make of Red Bulls off the track conduct? So I have no real issue with Red Bull. I think it's a little snide. I think they're playing the game. But at the same time, they have every right to play that game. That is part of Formula One. It's the politics. It's a bureaucracy. You're allowed to look at the rule book and opening inquiry. What I find more irritating is not what Red Bull did. it's how the stewards are conducting themselves. They ruled DAS legal.

They looked at the options. It was ruled legal. At that point, as long as the system on that Mercedes doesn't change, there should be no more inquiries allowed about that device until the end of the season. It's banned for next season. So there you have it, done and dusted. And at the end of the day, if you were to remove DAS,

that Mercedes would still be ridiculously fast, and it would still be winning races. So Red Bull can kind of get over it, I think. But my frustration is they allow another inquest. and then it happens again. So another inquest happens when Lewis Hamilton doesn't slow down properly for yellow flags when Valdry Bottas goes off the track,

which is a little bit Rosberg-esque, I have to say. Oh, come on. I don't think it was intentional. Shut up. Shut up. Listen to what I'm saying. It's not intentional, but it was just funny, wasn't it?

It gets the pole, falls off the track. We've seen it before from the Sages driver. And then the FIA immediately looking at it. They take time. It was not an immediate decision. they properly looked into it. Video footage was also given. No penalty given.

Nothing's nothing done. Okay, fine. That's the decision the FIA made. The stewards have made that choice. Red Bull turned up an hour before the race and go, do it again. We've got other video footage, which I don't know how that video footage could be any different to the video

footage they really had because they've all got the same cameras and the same telometry. But all of a sudden he has got a penalty. And they've changed their minds. I have an issue with the stewards just chopping and changing. their minds. I don't have any confidence in those stewards decisions now. You don't know what's permanent, what isn't permanent, what rulings can and cannot

happen. And that's what's frustrating. Red Bull, if they've got evidence to give them to chuck at something, sure. But if a situation is closed, the skewerg should be using all of the possible evidence in the first place to make that decision and that decision should be final. Not because this... Oh, hang on a minute.

We've completely missed this thing that we've definitely had access to that Red Bulls suddenly have access to. Let's give him a penalty. That's not on, in my opinion. The skewigs need to be right first time and then stick with their decision. I fell up with it. They were too many seasons. The skewers have not been consistent. They've not been very good. They've not been accurate. Red Bull have done a good job exploiting that and they got that

advantage. You didn't pay off for them, of course, but they did get that advantage. But the skewers need to do better, in my opinion. I mean, I think we said during the day on Friday, thank goodness, F1 is back. And then Red Bull lodged two protests and we were like, oh no, now F1's back. it's very F1 from the off we're getting these protests in Harry what did you think of Red Bull's conduct and indeed

what the stewards made of made of them both so I have no problem whatsoever with Red Bull's conduct but I'm on the same wavelength for Sam here I think the protest on Friday with Das I think even Toto Wolf said

he were rather they there was a confident that it was legal and it has now being deemed illegal again. But Toto also, like, I'm glad they did this now. And I think Red Bull did that on purpose rather than a protest after the race on a Sunday because we don't want to wait hours for a result on that. So I had no problem whatsoever with that one on Friday. And, you know, our team is allowed to protest.

So I'm okay with that one. The qualifying one, I think it, so the actual decision was the right call. but they Red Bull got they went up to the to the stewards with this new evidence the F on a tweeted

I think that 360 camera is what I believe was the further evidence that apparently the stewards hadn't looked at beforehand

on Saturday evening yeah and with Sam why wasn't that not considered already why do they not have that piece of evidence and yeah just why why have we come to this is why they come to that decision

without seeing all the possible evidence So, yeah, I think Rebel, again, a right to protest it. They think it's the right thing to do. But, yeah, an issue with just the timing of the Stewart's decisions. And it just undermines them as a governing body, doesn't it? Because they got admitting they got it wrong the first time because they didn't even look at all the evidence properly. So, yeah, it just makes them look a bit amateur, which is a shame because it's not what you need from F1's governing body, is it? Yeah, no problem with Red Bull, but like Sam says, the stewards needs to sort their act out a little bit.

Yeah, I go back and forth to use it like breaking pun. Thank you. On Red Bulls conduct themselves. I understand they made the Das inquiry of the Das protest on Friday, giving them the opportunity to review it over the next few days. Oh, aren't they good? You know, charitable Red Bull. Well done, Red Bull.

Should we completely ignore the fact that it's been on the car since February? I don't know what the protesting system is like out of season or, you know, out of race conditions. But it's been there for months. I don't quite believe the Red Bull, the goodness of their heart, decided to get it over and done with on Friday. I think that was reinforced by their asking of a review into Hamilton's clearing on the yellow flags because they made that about two hours before the race start. Mere coincidence that that would have happened after the strategic conversations of starting one, two, probably not.

I understand it's playing the game, so I'm not going to go in on them too much here. But yeah, to your point about the stewarding, it's atrocious, and it needs to be reviewed as soon as possible. It needs to be changed as soon as possible. It just can't stay in what is supposed to be seen as the pinnacle of motorsport, you know, the number one racing platform in the world. It just can't stand like that. It's so poor. You know, they look into it on Saturday night.

You know, the last five times that this has happened in a qualifying session, there has been either a three or five place grid penalty. And we can discuss whether that should be all three or all five. That's an inconsistency in itself. They decided to clear him of it, fair enough. And then they get this new evidence, which for goodness sake they should have had in the first place, or if they did have it, they should have looked at it. I think they ended up making the right decision.

But it's not just about the decision that you make. It's about the way in which you get there. I think we've said plenty of times that stewards have made correct decisions, but they've made them four hours after the race finishes. that's not acceptable even if it is the right decision that comes out of it. And this is the same scenario again. They've made the right decision, but it's come as a result of another team asking them to review it. It's an embarrassment for the FIA.

It's an embarrassing moment for how the stewarding is conducted. And I don't want to specifically single out one steward or one set of stewards. I know they alternate quite a lot, which to be honest, I think, is one thing that needs to be reviewed in itself. I don't want to put it on individuals. I want to put it on the process. The process is not fit for purpose in 2020. They need to review it and they need to review it now. So there, you've been told, Stuart.

Mr. F1, I'm talking to you. Get it done. Yes. Get it done. Before we go today, just a quick conversation about Ferrari, I think. Not something we've really discussed in terms of their performance. Of course, shall LeClair finish second? which I think if you'd said that before the race weekend,

you'd have gone, yeah, that's a pretty solid result. But it's not exactly due to performance. They were a bit off the pace. Sebastian Vessel getting knocked out of Q2 on Saturday. Charles LeClaire barely making it through and ended up qualifying P7. They have upgrades coming at Hungary, but Harry, is this really concerning for the team?

I think it is. We knew that they weren't going to be with Mercedes and Red Bull, but very concerning how far off the pace they were. And, yeah, I mean, after Kuali yesterday, if you told LeClaire that he was going to have a P2, I think he'd bitten your arm off. So, yeah, it's worrying times for Ferrari this year. It doesn't look great for them.

They're going to hope that that upgrade is good in Hungary. But the thing is, they know what the upgrade is going to be in Hungary. I thought it was going to be more aerodynamic, but they're saying that the car's actually pretty good through the corners. It's on the straits, which is ironic. And we already mentioned the fact that the other Ferrari cars also are quite slow on the straits. So yeah, I don't know what this upgrade is going to be in Hungary, but they need something.

I mean, LeClair, yeah, you know, kept his head throughout the chaos today and picked up that P2. And actually kept his head and made the most of it. You put a couple of moves on, was it Perez and Norris to get that. P2. So we've already spoken about Vettel. But yeah, it's not good times for Ferrari. They're slower than forcing, yeah. God damn it.

Slower than racing point and probably slower than McLeon, I would say. Definitely slower than Red Bull and Mercedes. So yeah, they desperately need a change to that car quickly. Yeah, good result for LeClaire, Sam, but like Harry, do you think it's concerning about how they got there? It's a great result for LeClau. I think that is quite possibly the most underrated result that Ferrari could have imagined.

There's no chance that they said after that performance in qualifying, if we walk away with P2 here, we'll be happy with that. There was no way they were expected to be on that podium and they walked away with the second most points of a one driver. Fantastic turn of events for Ferrari. Will that happen again next race weekend? I can't see it happening. They are nowhere.

That car is a dog. that car is as good as an average big field car at the moment. And they're lucky that Lecler was on a good race performance there. He's stuck on some good moves. He continued his strong pace and he made the most of what was going on around him. And that shows a good driver. That shows that he's got the talent. But my God, Troy has got to sort things out.

It's a little suspect that they hang a little chat with the FIA over the winter. And all of a sudden, they're terrible. But honestly, they're going to have to sort something out and sort something out fast. is I think if Austria goes worse for them this coming weekend, which I think it will, then they are already out of this championship. I'm saying that they've got it at lockdown anyway, but I think that Ferrari don't stand a chance

if they have a similar Grand Prix, if not worse, Grand Prix, next time out. So, Leclair did well, advantageous, I don't think it will happen again. Yeah, like you say, it was a very impressive performance from Charles Leclair to get that car into P2. It was not worthy of that position.

and yeah, I think if it weren't for Lando Norris, I probably would have given him driver of the day. It's tough. Last season, they had the advantage on the straits. We know that aerodynamically, it wasn't a great car in 2019. And it's as if they've gone away over the winter and basically invested everything into getting their car aerodynamically decent, which it is, which has compensated on the straits.

And yes, there are questions about the legality of their power use. it last year and whether that needs to now be called into question, not just for the rounds in Belgium and Italy, but indeed for the full season. Yeah, it's concerning. The good news is, and I have not a huge amount of confidence that the upgrades in Hungary are going to be incredibly influential, but let's just say they are for the moment. The good news is that one of the races, one of the two races they've had to basically just limit the damage, they have done. you know, Leclair getting P2, even with Bethel in P10, that's a net overall decent performance with Red Bull not scoring any points. McLaren have a few more points than them at this point. And racing point have only got eight.

So, yeah, I think overall it's a good result for Ferrari. And I think they'll be hoping for a similar race next weekend where they can take advantage of some more carnage that happens in the midfield. Because as you say, at this point, I really don't think they've got much of an advantage, if any advantage over the likes of. of McLaren and racing point. And so that point, actually, Renault, because I think Ricardo had a lot more to give, both in qualifying and the race. He didn't get to show it. But I would not have been surprised at all if Ricardo was actually just as quick as the Ferraris in that Grand Prix.

So, you know, at this point, I don't think there's much between them, but there's a case to say Ferrari's no better than the fifth best car. They're just going to have to hope that they can eke out some more points at race two. and then go on to Hungary, and the new car is dramatically amazing. I have doubts. I have a lot of doubts, but that's what they're going to be hoping for. Maybe it's just last year's car. I mean, at this rate, I think it might be 2014's car.

Bring the F 2004 along, see if anyone notices. I will happily not to notice. I'm deciding not to notice, folks. I mean, if we're taking looks out of it, I feel like. the engine noise might be a slight give-al. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's fine. It's exactly the same car. Does that engine sound any louder?

Nah. And then we'll be asking questions when Sebastian Vettel has seen in the pits and suddenly everyone works out is actually Rubens Barakallo in the car. The crying will be the thing that gives it away. Well, definitely at Austria, he'd be crying.

You couldn't write it. I'm still not over that. I know it's been a few years, but I'm not over it. 18, to be precise. Not over it. And 19, if you count the other time, it happened. Yeah, true. Heartbreak.

Well, I'm glad we got some Rubens Barakello talking at the end there. I was worried we were going to go the whole podcast without mentioning his name, but few. We've managed to get through it. I think that's enough. I think we could, honestly, go on and talk in other 50 minutes. There's so much to talk about from. the Grand Prix, but we will leave it there,

and we'll be returning, of course, for our preview of the second race at the Red Bull Ring. Until then, Sam, get us out of here. Folks, if you love Formula One, you love that it's back, and you love that we are chatting it every single week, all the week, everywhere, then

if you'd like to hit the like button, it really does help us out. We're obviously growing. This is the time to grow. And subscribe. It is free. It costs you nothing. You can always unsubscribe later if you get a thing up of our lovely voices. But give us a chance. It'd be great to have you on off the So we'll see you next time for that race preview once again back in Austria. In the meantime, I'll be Sammy Safe.

I've been Ben Hockey. I've been Ricky Von O'Pel. You've already used Ricky von O'Pol. You can't use it again. Oh, you've joked in. Yeah, you've got for two races ago. Oh, no, I'm sad. Can I tell another one?

Go on, try another one. I've been Brian Redman. That'll be. I remember, keep breaking late. network.