The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Do Ferrari’s Drivers REALLY Need to ‘Talk Less’?

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

The LB boys react to Ferrari President John Elkann's claim that their drivers should “talk less” and focus on unity - does he have a point? (Spoiler: no.) They also dig into Alpine confirming Colapinto for 2026, Bortoleto’s tough home race, and Jenson Button’s farewell to racing, before ending with a game of Guess The Year. Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get: Ad-free listening Full-length bonus episodes Power Rankings after every race Historical race reviews & more exclusive extras! Give the 'gift' of Late Braking this holiday period with a Patreon gift subscription,⁠⁠⁠⁠ and your favourite F1 fan can enjoy anywhere from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠ Connect with Late Braking: You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats! Think you can beat us? Join our ⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and prove it! Get in touch any time at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Hello and a very well welcome to the Lake Breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry. Steve, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hawking. No F-1 this week, sadly, but we're just going to take a week. We're just going to have a quiet one, a bit of a calm one, before the lead up to the end of the season. Sam, isn't that right? Sure, that's what we do here.

No controversy, no news. Actually, it's an hour of silence, and we shall now not speak. Imagine. Harry Ead's back. You're right, mate. Hello. Yeah, I've come back just for all the calm and quiet topics we have to talk about today. So it's good to be back for what will be, I'm sure, a very relaxed episode.

I've got to get your reaction before we start talking about F1 to the big news, Harry. Oh, yeah, what's that? The news. Hmm. Oh, yeah, the news. I don't know what you're talking about. You know it. The news that Vanessa from the Saturdays is pregnant.

No. No. Not Vanessa. Yeah, yeah. I was tired to know what your reaction was going to be to it. Well, I'm surprised, quite funny, because I just didn't realize. I'm sure Rochelle is delighted, though, for her friend, Vanessa. Yes.

Actual F1 stuff that we're not discussing, though. Have you seen what's happening with Grilled in Australia with Oscar Pastery? That's, it's not a topic today, but the fact that they've had to change their advert for their special offer on their burger, which was, it's like a free burger offer every time Oscar Pistri gets a podium, they've had to re-release it to every time he races because he's not had a podium since that went live.

It's like a curse. Vanessa's delighted, though. She loves grilled. Oh, my God. This is terrible. Moving on, son. That's up about Vanessa Ben. Shut up.

It's just big news, all right? We've got plenty of F1 topics to run through as well. We're going to be playing guest a year because, of course, Vanessa loves that game so much. Gabriel Portoletto, his crash at the Brazilian GP, a little bit on whether we should be worried about that going forward. Alpine have signed Colopinto, but let's start with, oh boy, I wasn't sure what the lead topic of this episode was going to be.

But good old John Elkin has really helped me out here, John Elkin, of course, the Ferrari president, because he has said, Lewis Hamilton, Charles LeCler, need to talk less. This follows a return of just six points across the Brazilian GP weekend, the result of which is dropping to P4 in the Constructors' Championship. This came on the same weekend. Ferrari's sports car operation won the World Endurance Championship in the same season. It triumphed at the LeMont 24 hours.

Speaking at an event, Ferrari Chief Elkin called Brazil, a big disappointment. If we look at the Formula One Championship, we can say that on one hand, we have our mechanics who are basically winning the championship with their performance and everything that has been done on the pit stops. If we look at our engineers, there's no doubt that the country, car has improved. If we look at the rest, it is not up to par. And surely we have drivers for whom

it is important that they focus on driving and talk less because we still have important races ahead of us and getting second place is not impossible. Speaking of the World Endurance Championship triumph, he said, winning both as manufacturers and as drivers is a wonderful demonstration that when Ferrari is united, when everyone is together, great things can be achieved. Oh, boy, I do not know where to start on this one. Harry, do you know where to start on this one? No, I mean, no. What opportune moment for John Alkin to do this?

I, many things to unpack here. First of all, the driver's talking less. I think that's probably the thing that's annoyed to most people here, and I think quite rightly, why after the Brazilian GP he decided to say that when I don't think either of them said anything bad about Ferrari this weekend they've said they've said other critical things this year by the way very fairly and quite right too

but Brazil I don't think they said a thing so why that was an issue I don't know so yeah so I don't know why he's going for that Lewis Hamilton is a different one The honeymoon there with Ferrari is over, isn't it? At least between him and John Elkin, it seems. I think Hamilton loves the team he's at, but not sure he appreciates John very much.

But Charles LeClair, what that man has had to go through, and the loyalty that he has shown to Ferrari since 2019, he should be able to say whatever he likes. And the fact that he, I think he reigns it in most of the time, me, I think John Elkin, you should count your lucky stars on that one because LeClair has every right to be kicking off every weekend. If it was Max Verstappen in that seat, they wouldn't know what had hit them. And I think Leclair is very restrained with what he says.

Frustrations do boil over, but for the most part, he is supremely loyal to Ferrari, and they're very lucky in that fact. And having a pop at him, stupid move. he's he's the only driver that's got you a podium this year seven of them I believe and why are you having a go at saying he should talk less

I don't know the mechanic he's right on the mechanics they're winning the championship of pit stops sure if that's a summary of Ferrari this year that's a tragedy but I guess it is

that's the only thing but I guess he's right for I have been good in pit stops this year just about the engineering team moving the car forward sure show me the evidence of that one is that in the room with us because I don't see it

I'm not sure discovering you've got an illegal car when you ride at its optimum ride height and then having to lift and coast to the rest of the year is improving the car but whatever you say John it's the driver's talking which is a problem I'm sure and then the comparison to obviously the WEC World and Giants

Championship win on the same weekend which is sort of led to this I think the comparison between the two teams of F1 and WEC is absolute nonsense

because I'm sure if F1 had a balance of performance like WET did then Ferrari pretty would win and Ferrari could pay the FIA

in the same way that they pay the AOC to win in WEC so just going to end the point there and move on I'm out you know what

but they'd still find a way to mess it up in F-1. They'd still find a way. Sam, this has got the attention of plenty of people on the internet and elsewhere. What was your reaction to see in these comments? I can only assume that the quote you read out was actually just the prologue to John El King's new book, Delusion.

Because, quite frankly, what are you bloody on about, son? The car's improved. Everything is perfect in the world of John L King and Ferrari. You know that meme of what the world would look like if X, you know, if LeCler hadn't spoken a word, cover cars everywhere and people, you know, having the perfect life. Apparently, that's how he views it,

that they would be the best team of all time as long as Lewis Hamilton and Charlotte Clare don't open their mouths. Also on this race weekend, Charlotte Clare, who put it in the top three in a car that you deserve to be there, despite what you think your engine is doing, they got taken out by another car that had absolutely nothing to do with him.

He was drawn around the bloody Amazon rainforest to avoid what was going on in turn one, and you're still coming out there, giving it back chat. Aren't you need to wind it in, mate? Put your tongue back in your mouth, shut up, enjoy Bahrain, enjoy you've got some kind of success going on. Stop slagging them off. They're doing a great job.

Stop getting them, go, maybe I'll trade that in for a second place, saying F1. Let them have a good time. Let Bobby Kay enjoy himself. How very dare you? So, you're right. So, I think, this is absolute toddle wash. That's got a word. But nonetheless, that's what it is.

It's rubbish. It's a longer rubbish. I love that the first point in this is our pit stops are doing the good job. Like, that's the least consequential part of all of the things you've talked about. The least, the pit stops could be five seconds long. You still wouldn't be near the championship.

Both cars, DNF'd. You still would have been second in the championship because of the pit stops. Unfortunately, Lewis Hamilton can't winging a car that is rubbish. Charlotte Clare can't winging a car that's rubbish. Frida Clare, Lewis Hamilton's dream to be. being crushed every day.

And John Elkin thinks it's simply a case of saying less words means more horsepower. That's got a direct translation. You can't trade those in one for the other. Yeah, absolutely rubbish. I'm amazed that he genuinely thinks this is a fair statement to make. When someone is speaking so much nonsense that it is both twaddle and codswallop, that you somehow merge them together to get toddle wash, that's when you know someone is talking absolute nonsense.

It is very ironic that in a statement where he's suggesting talking less, it's the one delivering the quote that really needs to listen to his own advice. First of all, I would say, on a more positive note, it's very noble of him to take time out of his community service that he's doing at the moment for something relating to inheritance tax in Italy. So I appreciate that. Another knockout blow from the LB podcast. You know what?

Don't worry about it, John. We all, you know, sometimes have one too many. We get home and we forget to declare one billion euros worth of assets. It happens, man. Don't worry about it. Happens are the best of us, doesn't it? You know, you've had, yeah. Mistakes are made.

Honestly, it's never good when you don't know if something's more wrong or more stupid, but that's the situation we're in with this quote. He is right about the pit stops. I will grant him that. And I did look at this because you're right, Harry, they are leading the world championship with good stops. But in fairness to them,

21 races so far this year, every single Grand Prix, they've had at least one pit stop under 2.4 seconds. That is incredible consistency for a team. We used to, I was going to say lambas, but really just joke about a few years ago.

So to turn that around is impressive, won't deny that. But the whole quote about engineers and no doubt that the car has improved, Now, maybe it's improved a little bit, but here's the issue. If you're in a 100 metre race and you've covered the first 10 metres in 10 seconds, have you improved? Yes, have you made progress? Sure, you have. Does that matter? Not one little bit because everyone else has already finished the race. It's all relative. Of course your car's improving as the year goes on. Everyone's

car is improving just at a faster rate than what you've been able to. And the definition of standing still is being able to establish an issue at China, which if you remember, folks, was race two and still having the same lift and coast issue with just a few rounds to go. Nothing's been fixed whatsoever. And in terms of the drivers, I just, what more can it, particularly on LeCler's side of the garage, what more can he do? Just use like the Mexican Grand Prix as an example recently where, okay, it was dubious as to how he got to second place after the first corner, but he had essentially like 70 laps to battle with Lando Norris, car versus car, and we saw what happened. Norris won by 30 seconds.

Are you seriously suggesting John Elkin that if Lecler shut up a bit more and focused a bit more, that he would have suddenly won that race? It's insanity. It's absolute insanity. The whole thing about unity is just, did you see LeClau's response on this, by the way? Please invite me. I saw it on Twitter, it's probably across other social media channels as well,

but he, as part of his post-Brazil post has put, it's clear that only unity can help us turn this situation around in the last three races. He didn't put the asterisk of also maybe a good car. I don't know, but I thought that was a nice. famously, what makes Formula One cars go faster is Yugetty power. That's always been the winger of world championships. Yep, that's how it's done.

Fortunately, I've got an easy way to shut up, Shalukla. Give him a good car. He won't say anything again, ever again. He won't say anything again after that. Oh, boy. Are you worried if you're Fred Fusser, Sam? Yeah, no, I am worried for Fred Fassar. Only recently did we have to discuss Drang Elkin again,

wading again. to the comments, trying to defend Fred. You know, in fact they gave him a new contract. They said that the team are behind him, and we spoke about the whole managerial owner comments where if an owner comes out and says, we're behind our manager. They often get fired about a month later

if it doesn't go to plan. Well, second time, John Elkin decides to speak to the press directly over Frank Berser's head, realistically, this isn't great. And this shows that the more he speaks to the press, the more impatient, the more tired. the more frustrating he's getting that he's having to put out statements himself.

Well, I think Fred Berser is having to deal with what was essentially a very difficult foundation to leap from in the first place. And there's a lot of cultural change, cultural shift that really needs to come together to ensure that the culture of wanting to wing and the physical action of winging are one and the same

because they are very far apart of Ferrari in Formula One right now. And you're building in good areas. Yeah, your Pitsops are good. Your drivers are good. The thing that they all need to operate on together, The car is pants. So once that gets worked out, which I think Fred has been working on,

hopefully we'll see that in 2026. Then I feel like it's fair to put him under pressure, but let him perform in a place where he's actually able to perform. But I do think, unfortunately, the moment the owner starts coming out and saying certain things, the team boss is going to feel the heat. As you say, regarding that first comment he made a few weeks ago, we did discuss that.

And you were bang on it, to be fair, Sam, because I wasn't quite as concerned as you were. and I'm much closer to your opinion now than I was then. Harry, does Fred Vassir have to be a bit concerned? I think so, yeah. I think naturally he will be concerned after these comments. I guess some of it's pointed at the drivers, some of it's obviously pointed at the drivers

and not necessarily his running of the team, but all of it's pointed at you when you're the team principal. but Ferrari have Ferrari this is all they've done since since they became Ferrari basically they've always had the upper upper echelons of the management of Ferrari whether it's the OG Enzo himself or Luca de Montesemolo or you know now you know we've got John Elkin they've always tried to they've always tried to sway or influence what happens in the team. And the only time that it's not happened is when you go back to the Jean-Tot era with Schumacher, where he had Jean-Tot, Schumacher, Rory Byrne, Ross Braun, who formed a human

shield of goodness or something to stop any of those sorts of comments coming in. They formed such a tight-knit group that it could never happen. And it's just never, it's never happened since. It didn't happen before that, and it's never happened since. Weird that Ferrari haven't worked that one out yet because when that did happen they do big wins they do lots of wins and since then not lots wins again so um it's uh it's interesting that they're not they're not figure that out but yeah if i was fred beside i'd be worried i think a lot rides on um the 2026 car being good i think as sam said um if it's not good at the start of next year then the pressure will start to ramp up. I'm thinking like

Stefano Domenicali, fearless leader, obviously, but at the time he was a Ferrari team principal, beginning of 2014, when that car was a hideous piece of junk, it only took a couple of races and they replaced him and Marco Matiachi. And I sense if something like that happens again, it may be the end unfairly, potentially, but it might be the end of Fred Vassar's reign. Yeah, this might sound like an exaggeration

because it has been a horrible year for Ferrari by their expectations. We're in regards to lifting coast and no wins to this point, at least in Main Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton has struggled more than I think most expected him to. But I still think this statement that John Elkin has made might be the most concerning thing at Ferrari this year because it is proof that that longstanding issue that Ferrari seem to have of upper management getting involved with stupid comments telling the race team and team principal and drivers,

how to do their job, what to do. That issue just hasn't gone away. And I thought this era of Ferrari, with Fred Vassar at the helm, had a chance to sort of get closer to the model that you just described with Schumacher that did lead to big wins. I thought we might be heading back to that.

This comment, this quote, I don't think they have. I think they're just exactly where they've been for the last 15 years, nearly 20 years at this point. And I've got no faith after hearing this that it's going to turn around, which is a shame, particularly for any Ferrari fans out there. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but it just, it screams of everything that was wrong 10 years ago. If you're Charles LeClaire, how close are you to telling them to shove it?

If it was anyone other than Charles LeClaire, probably two minutes away, but it's LeClaire. It'll just, oh, you retweet. didn't you, a post from, was it like 2016, 2017 when he got his first run in a Ferrari in a test session and he's just so happy that he's in a Ferrari, you kind of feel like that guy's still in there and he's stopping him from breaking away, even if it's to his detriment. But, oh, Sam, a final comment on this one. As Harry mentioned earlier, the honeymoon era of Hamilton at Ferrari might well be over.

Would you concur with that? yeah honeymoon period is completely over between lewis hamilton and Ferrari and i think he's in love with the dream i think he's loved with the tophosi i think he's loved with wearing the red i think the politics of ferraris once again eating up another driver and it shows very quickly no matter how big or how small you know whether your car lost signs in that car having your first shot at a top job or your lewis hamilton to chase your dream after winning seven titles it's not easy Ferrari is not easy, and a log of hurdles get thrown at you very quickly, and there's some real issues very deep, very deep within Ferrari that need to be resolved.

I'm not sure Lewis Hamilton is necessarily going to resolve them in the space of nine months. Also, side point, John Elking has the most boring game out of all the team bosses that are Ferrari. Just rubbishing it. Monty Zemolo is way better. Yeah. It's not close. Yeah. Sergei Marci and Marci.

Yeah, that's better as well. So good. Yeah. So good. Uh, just John Elkin, John. Could be a, it could be a math teacher, couldn't he? Yeah, Mr. Elkin. He does P.E. on the side.

Yeah. Mr. Elkin? Oh, I've forgotten my P.E. kit. All right. Well, that'll do it for John Elkian, then. As we take our first break on this episode, on the other side, we're chatting Franco Colopinto. welcome back everyone uh franco colopento will get the chance to complete his first full season in formula one next year after securing his future at alpine flavio briotori executive consultant at alpine said our decision to continue together for twenty six is a clear indication of our commitment and strong support for franco as he develops as a race driver he's not a man

for many words. It's Flavio Brito. That's literally it. That's all he had to say. Sam, what's your view on this one? Your reaction to the news. Lucky for Alpine, they've actually got a driver

that's willing to give them any kind of commitment with any kind of ability to his name because they're in such a dire position that having Pierre Gasley on their side holding down the fort means that they're able to experiment

a little with his second seat. So the fact that they have got such a really available, financially powered and exciting youngster in Colopinto means that they can play around So he's given time to develop. I think he has over the last five or six Grand Prix

really earned that position. A little bit worried at the moment the car stepped up. He wasn't able to go with Gassely, who of course finished in both points playing positions in the sprint and the main race in Brazil. And Colin Lepinto looked far off the pace, I think in both sessions. But before that, when the car was struggling,

and maybe that's just a suit of his style and he needs a little bit of time to adapt as a rookie. He was right there with Pierre Gassel. We even had the small team fiasco where he ignored team orders to stay behind to be aghast and he actually passed him and finished in front of him. So the pace is there when comfortable. He has developed

I think over the last half a season or so. He just needs to keep developing. We can't see this be his top point. Much like what happened with Zhou Guangyu when he was sitting in Alpha Amaya. We saw a really good start to Joe Guangu's career. And then by season two, it was stagnating. By season

three, it had fully stagnated. It almost recessed a little in terms of how he was in comparison to the likes of Bottas. We don't want to see that again with Colour Pinta. So we're going to continue to take those steps forward. Hopefully, in the new regulations at Alpine, they and he can take a steady step forward in the middle of year. Harry, one step closer to knowing the complete grid for 2026.

What was your reaction to the news? Unsurprised, I think. Side note, by the fact that next year he'll finally get to do a four-year of Formula One is ridiculous, given that he's been in F1 now since mid-last year. but yeah unsurprised of this one I think it was it was the it was the right cool colopinto's not he's not exploded onto the scene like he did in 2024 but you're right sounds right there's been some gradual improvement and also the alpines attractor most of the time so I don't think this is really fair to judge him that much on what he's done obviously

you've got to judge him next to ghastly but to be honest I think ghastly just is doing such a good job in that car. As I said in my power rankings on Patreon, tractors don't deserve points, but Pierre Gasti does. He, I think out drove the car both, both the sprint and the, and the racing in Telago. So yeah, I know Colopinto wasn't there with him, but I think Colopinto was probably where, roughly where the car pace was in reality. And it was just, it was just Gassie doing a great job. So I think a fair, a fair, um, call this one, being given a contract for a year, if you're in our

if you're a rookie in alpine does that mean much to be honest I mean look at Jack doing so I'm not saying they're going to get rid of him but it was pretty much at this point last year that doing got his was it yeah it's a bit of paper with some words on don't mean anything

so yeah I'm not saying the columbinda is going to be out after two or three races next year but it's a pretty flexible seat it's the second alpine seat So great it gets a chance. Hopefully the Alpine is, well, it's going to have to be. There's no way it can be worse than this year,

but hopefully it is better this year than it next year than it is this year. I don't know. It could happen. Zero points are available. The Othma was smug about something at the beginning of 24, whenever it was. We still don't know why. Maybe it's because he's not there anymore. I don't know.

23, I think. It's that long ago. I think I had the nine kids in that time but yeah you've got to say that the car's going to be better than it is at the moment so hopefully Colom Inter can show the sort of pace and

excitement we saw from him at the you know and his William stint so I think overall fair call I'm not sure who else they really would have gone for there would have been much better slash could have done a better job than he's doing right now yeah no real surprise from my side either. I do wonder if either one or both of these things were at play where they wanted to wait until the Brazilian GP, wait until the South American GP, we know that the Colopinto fan base was out

in Spades during this Brazilian GP weekend. So I don't know if they wanted to time the announcement to be roughly around then. Or, and or did Cota and that incident that we mentioned, did that slow things down a little bit because I feel like it's been a few races since we've known that this is probably what was going to happen. I feel like his pace has been pretty solid versus Gasly, albeit in a back market car at this late juncture in the season. But the real lack of options elsewhere has certainly contributed to this. I feel like Alpine had three options for this seat and then two of them signed for Cadillac.

And that was that. they were left with Colopinto or a punt on Paul Aaron, who of course would be an actual rookie heading into next year, having not done any F1 races to this point. I don't think the comments are necessarily a ringing endorsement from Briatore, whether that's because that's just how Flavia Briotori operates or whether there's still quite a bit to be proven. I don't know, but we've heard other re-signings of drivers be far more glowing than what this was. This was two lines and that was about it. It will be useful, I think, for Colopinto to do

a preseason and then go into a full season. That could be really valuable for him. And to your point earlier, Harry, like he's done 24 races. He'll have done 27 by the end of this season and not done a preseason. By the end of this year, he will have done like over a quarter of the races that Jackie Stewart did in his career having not done a preseason in F1. It doesn't seem real. So yeah, I think that will be useful for him to get a full couple of months of prep, bit of input into the car as well. Sam, how will Alpine feel about this situation that they find themselves in? Obviously, they've been waiting for this new regulations for quite some time, thinking that the engine is underpowered versus what their competitors are right

now. Are they going to be content with the lineup they've landed with? I think the lineup is the least of their worries is very much a symptom of the much larger causation of the problem, which is lack of direction, lack of developmental understanding, the regulations and they're being so far behind in that sense. Hopefully, they've got some clarity in where the direction of the car is moving for 2026 and the new regulations and that management is becoming more streamlined, more together, they're more refined, and that RENO as an overall group are improving their backing of the the Alpine team rather than kind of replacing CEOs as well as we're replacing team principles. It feels like a very convoluted and bizarre management structure they have over there at both

Alping and RENO, which like I've said before, the rot starts on the top. It isn't on the shop floor that you first get problems with culture. It stems all the way to the top and takes a cascade down to the bottom. So the drivers who are pretty much the last people to receive any kind of updates, get the new car, see the feedback from the car. They need it to be going well before it even gets to them. So Gassi and Colapinto is fine. I mean, Gassi's a steal that they hold on to him. I really do.

I think a bigger team could wise up and take him off his hands, take him off their hands very quickly. Colopinto is essentially the best of a pring dire situation where it's him or Aaron who is not doing any racing or a pay driver that it could be such low quality. It could almost be embarrassing. You're right that they missed out on Bottas and they missed out on Perez. I do think that in their current.

guys, those two are better options to Colapinto. But Colopinto might turn to be a very, very solid driver yet. And so I think you've got to fix the car, you've got to fix the culture, you've got to fix the management before the driver line up even realistically becomes a worry. We're basically where Williams were about

seven, eight years ago at this point. And seeing where Williams are now, that would indicate a long journey, but we'll see. They rightly or wrongly have ambitions to win Grand Prix next year. And looking at this line, up. It is not awful, but it's not great either. I think when they, I don't want to say they

packed in this era of F1 a couple of years ago, but they were certainly one eye on 2026 earlier than pretty much any other team outside of maybe Williams. I think when they had that in mind, they didn't have this lineup in mind. That's no disrespect to either driver here, but there are versions of Alpine that could now have Alonzo and Piastri or Piastri and Gazli or O'Conn and Gazley, hey, that's the line-up, that could work. Given their lack of competitiveness in this era, I feel like it's not a great result. And again, Gasly has done a good job over the last couple of years.

Colopinto has potential that they want to win races and they want to win a championship in 2027. So we'll see. Harry, when it comes to Colopinto, how can he prove that he deserves their commitment long-term? This year or just in general? This year and next year. I assume he'll only be there for either six races or at most all of next year.

If Alpine does end up being better than they are now, how does he prove himself versus Ghazli to Flavio Brio Tori that he should be in their long-term plans? I think, firstly, his pace has got to be consistent to Gazzley. I'm not saying he needs to start beating him every race because like I said, I think Gatsi's doing a supreme job and it's actually quite hard to see that

given the terrible car he's got to drive. As you move into next year, like you say, with the benefit of actually doing testing, the first time he jumps in a new car, with the same time he jumps in a new car. It's like a, it's like a clean slate for Colopinto.

So I think, and I'm hopeful that he will be more up to speed than he has been this year. I think that combined with he needs to now start ironing out some of the errors that he has made. Obviously, last year he did make some, but it came with electric pace. And we said that that's fine. This year there's been errors, but it hasn't come with electric pace, which is less fine.

But I think in general, like you said, he'll have done 27 races by the time he gets to the start of next year. He needs to just start ironing these out now and be a bit more consistent. As Sam said, it seems to be like an upward trend for him. intervals didn't look as good but I think just some consistency across the season is what he needs. He just needs to calm it down a bit, simmer it down.

Simmer it down. Exactly. As we go into next year. So he just needs to be a calming a calming presence to Flavio because I think when Flavio is someone who just keeps binning it all the time, Jack Dewin, for example,

he panics and he fires you for some reason. So I think, yeah, a bit more pace compared to Galsley, but also just calm it down a bit. Yeah, if by some small miracle, they are Alpine in a better position next year. At least right now, Colopinto is far more vulnerable than Gassley is to someone else wanted to come into that team.

So I think he does need to impress from the off and he needs to impress at the end of this season as well just to keep that up. I will say, and I know Sam, you kind of made this point as well, that there is a slight concern at the moment that Colopinto isn't performing on the very off occasion that Alpine are slightly better. Colopento seems to have done a good job recently where the car has been terrible of matching Gasly and sometimes beating Gasly and qualifying as well. But I was having a look at all of the times that Gasly has scored points for Alpine when Colopinto has been his teammate.

and it's not great reading for Colopinto. So if you go back to the Spanish GP, Ghazly had a P8 there. Colopinto was P15. Gazli had P6 at Silverstone, you'll remember a great result there. Colopinto didn't start the race owing to a crash that he had in qualifying the day before.

Ghazley more recently has had 10th place at Spa. Colopinto was 19th. And he also had 10th, obviously, last time out, in Interlagos. And Colopinto was 15. So it's not like he's been very close to Gasly when he has been in the points. He needs to rectify that if Alpine have, let's say,

one of these last three Grand Prix, can they do something similar to what they did it into Lagos? We need to see Colopinto there with Gazley as a competitive force, really. Well, before we go to our second break on this episode, I think it's time for an F1. Fantasy update.

Yay! Firstly, congratulations to Dilla 996, because with 436 points, you are the winner of our league for the Brazilian GP. Congratulations to you. Top three in the league for the season, no change at all. So UH 1999 continues to lead the way on 4,867 points. And I was interested because that is a good number of points at this stage in the season. I was intrigued.

Dude is 90th in the world. Whoa. Go away. We've got a top 100 player. We've got a top 100 player in our midst. 45th year is second place, and he's not too far off. He's within 42 points of him. So could well catch by the end of the year.

And then still in third, Reichen's Yacht Monaco, 2006. So no change in the top three. But what about us for? I can't say I've really changed much. I've gone up a grand total of one spots to 28th. Bortilato's DNF hurt me. It was looking like it might be a gain of a few spots. And then, no, Portoletto said, I'm not doing this race.

We don't want to hear about gains of one spot. We want to hear gains of 164 spots. Up to 320th is Kirsty McGregor. Producer Kirsty was outside of the top 2000 earlier in this season. A remarkable recovery. But the real battle is between third and fourth. I think Harry be nervous at this stage. You are still third, Harry, having dropped 25 spots.

You're now 1,221st, but you are only 21 spots ahead of Mr. Sam Sage, who's climbed 54 seconds, 1,242nd. So 21 spots between you both, it's just nine points. That's it. Oh, you know what, closer than the actual world championship. This is what people are watching. Yeah, the tuning in for this. Max Verstappen did me as my two-times driver, an absolute solid, solid.

Charlotte-Claire Ferrari and Gabby Bartoletto undid all of the work. Oh. Oh. I mean, I like Austin Martin is my second team, so they weren't going to be too much worse, but I mean, at least they both figured. Yeah, that's at least a positive. I like the Mercedes, guys. Maclara Mercedes. I can't make the budget work.

Yeah, how do you do? Have you got more money? How do you do this? I want more money. He's playing with a 120 million budget. That's why he's in the top 50. Yeah, I'm on cheating at this point. If you do want to join the league, there is still time where we're not closing off entries.

So with three races to go, if you want to get involved, please do just under 3,000 teams involved. And of course, you still got the opportunity to win the races, even if you don't think you can win the league. So you can have your name shout it out, just like Dilla 996 today, if you win or any of the last three races. Win a winner, winner, chicken Diller. That's what they all say.

Well, let's take a second break on the other side. We're going to be chatting Gabby Bortoletto. Welcome back, everyone. Before we get into a chat about Gabrielle Bortoletto and how his Brazilian GP didn't go particularly well, we are getting into the season of giving. We are very close to Christmas. We're very close to Thanksgiving.

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when you're a year-long subscriber. I like the idea that people buy Pedro and gift cards for someone who's never listened to us. That's even better. Not for a fan. Just feel like your grandma. Here you go, grandma. I knew it's what you wanted.

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One degree. The week of Christmas. Mr. bin mag, when he's carrying your smelly bigs to the truck. I've got you a Christmas gift. all your heart work. What is it a little boy? It sounds like about the Christmas.

I didn't know you're being mad at Scrooge. You boy. You're there. What day is it? Sam is tiny too. God bless everyone. Can I just say that this promo link has got so badly that our producer

Kursi's walked off in disgust. That's how bad it was. Come back shaking her age. It's like, yet. I think that was the best segment of this whole show. Yeah, that's going to be in the

Elbies, I reckon. It's a podcast moment of the year. Shall we move on to Gabrielle Bortoletto? Because as far as first home races go, not a great one for him. It's often thought that Brazilian home drivers kind of have a bit of a curse around them

when they get to Interlagos. And Bortoletto has kind of reinforced that theory here with that first lap D&F and obviously the massive crash that he had in the sprint as well. well, Sam, I feel like there have been quite a few positive moments from Bortoletto's first season in the sport, but any concerns here? I'm not concerned, if I'm honest.

He's had some difficulty in wet weather racing, and it was a tricky race track on the Saturday. There were definitely some damp spots about, as we saw, with these unfortunate incident, which would reiterate again, as we said on the day, so happy that he immediately over the radio, he's okay, that's all good. It was a bit of a rookie error. I think he got a little bit overly zealous in the fact that he was in front of his home crowd. It looked like an overtaking opportunity was possibly on going down the start finger straight. I think he tried to chuck it down the inside, misjudge the situation, resulting himself, putting it in the wall, of course. But a more experienced driver, maybe takes the loss, sits behind, deals with it.

And he'll learn from that. And I think he will learn from that because you see the development that he's had throughout the season with the way that the car has grown. that as a rookie, you're still going to make mistakes. You're still going to go for moves that probably aren't as long as you think they might be five years into your career. You might think,

oh, I'll give this another lap before trying the risky move here. That's something to learn from. So I'm not panicking. I'm not thinking that maybe it's all a little too soon. I think Audi have got a real gem on their hands. He's an F2 champ for a reason. I think he's one of these drivers

that can join that bit of a golden era that we've kind of gone through at the moment. He's on that tail end. And I'm excited to see what he brings. So no, not panicking. a tough weekend but his season has been pretty great

yeah I can't say I'm panicking either I don't think he's going to lose his job I'm waiting for it he's had a great rookie season to this stage and sure he's suffered

with inconsistency at times but he's a rookie that's going to happen it does seem I will say this it does seem that when it goes wrong

for Bortoletto it seems to go very very wrong obviously the Brazilian weekend there were multiple incidents if you go back to the British GP earlier this year.

I think he had like three or four spins, including the DNF. It does seem when he's not quite at one with the car, maybe he's searching a little too hard, or it seems to go pear shape quite quickly. So that's maybe something to focus on. But after that, pretty poor Silverstone GP earlier this year, he bounced back with P9 at Spa and then P6 at Hungary. So that gives encouragement that he'll bounce back absolutely fine here as well. Harry, any concerns at all?

No, not really. if nothing else in this weekend I think it will be a traumatising experience that he will learn from because it just it all unraveled so quickly and it all came from that move and like he said to him we obviously echo the fact that

we're so happy to see him walk away from that crash but yeah it all went wrong for there because obviously then he didn't make qualifying then he's starting from the back then he's trying to make up spaces on the opening lap that maybe he didn't necessarily need to because I think a lot of the cars he was, well, stroll, for example, I think he had more pace and stroll and he's trying to overtake stroll around the outside on,

on lap one, like, just hold on, mate. But it's all because this is his home race, a lot of pressure that he's probably put on himself for this. And yeah, there were two, two mistakes here. One was pretty, pretty big. The other one, you know, a little bit more 50-50, but even so, still two mistakes from, from Bortoletto in front of his home crowd. And I think it maybe just got a bit too much for him. but I think the positive from that,

if there is a positive from that sort of weekend, is that he'll learn a lot from that. He'll learn, I'm sure Fernando has been on the phone to him already. And Max Verstappen, it seems, because they're like mentoring him through F1. But, yeah, he'll learn from those mistakes. I think that, like you said, Sam, I think a more experienced driver doesn't even go for that move

that he tried to, at least not with the DRS open on a damp track. Yeah, I think it's just a learning experience. It just, it happened in dramatic fashion at his home race. And I think that makes it look all the more worse. So I'm not, like you said, Ben, I'm not panicking that he's and I lose his job. Very valid, by the way, that if you want two mentors in Formula One, Fernando Alonzo and Max Verstappen, you could do far worse than that. I'll put it that way.

There was something about, there was a comment from Bortoletto after his DNF that caught my eye. said this about the incident. I've always been used to fighting in the front in my previous series and now in Formula One I don't have, I don't quite have the car yet. So I need to fight at some point. The whole year I've been backing out and not being able to fight, but I need to learn and test things as well because the day that I hopefully will get a car to fight for championships, I cannot make such mistakes. And I believe things like today creates better drivers. If you see Max Verstappen at the beginning of his career as an example, but life moves on and I hope I will learn from my mistakes in the future as well.

I thought that was an interesting take on it, Sam. It's a really mature comment. And you know what? He's right. If you're going to throw the car into a wall at 200 miles an hour, if you're going to crash into another driver and then put it in the wall at your home Grand Prix, do it now when you're driving a big green tractor

at the back of the grid that could barely score points. He is exactly right that all the best go through a tricky phase. And usually they do it pretty early on and they don't do it at the pinnacle when they're trying to win world titles. Max Verstappen did it. Sebastian Beto, remember, drove into the back of Mark Weber in a very wet, rainy day. Lewis Hamilton had several instances, notably in China where he ended up in the gravel

trap. All the greats go through a tricky moment. And if he's on that same pathway, of course we don't know yet, we haven't got there to our destination. But if he is on that same pathway, I can see he's thinking. It's logical, it's mature, it makes sense. I'd still rather he doesn't put it in the wall at 200 miles an hour, give us all a blimming heart attack, but nonetheless, I can see where he's getting at.

Yeah, I thought this was an interesting way to view it as well. It's, I don't know, there's an air of confidence about it without being like over the top. Like it's just confidence that he hopes that one day and thinks that one day he will be in a car that is capable of winning titles. And he wants to make sure that whenever he gets to that point, he is as well prepared as he possibly can be. And part of that is going to be getting himself in situations like this. And it's not always going to go well for him. But at least he is getting that exposure. And he's right, when you get these drivers that get to Formula One,

more often than not, they have got to Formula One because they've dominated the series leading up to F1. So they maybe have more experience of leading Grand Prix and managing tireware from the front and maybe somewhat less exposure to overtaking and defending in the midfield, which is, of course, what Bortoletto is doing a lot of this season. So, yeah, I thought that was an interesting way to view it.

Let's move on to Jensen Button because I thought it'd be nice to give old J.B a few minutes on this episode given that he's called time on his racing career at last weekend's eight hours of Bahrain, the final race in the World Endurance Championship season. Button has since his retirement from F1 competed in quite a few different series, some in a temporary capacity.

He's done some work in Imsa in NASCAR. He did Super GT just after he left F1. But of course F1 is where most people will know, him from having spent 18 years in the sport and included of course a title back in 2009 harry any thoughts on on jensen button's career as it closes down at least this portion this racing portion of his career yeah i mean um so i think only you only have to look at the the positive words positive posts from all around the motorsport community over the weekend for jb to know what a presence he's been in in motorsport

and obviously F1 over the years. Look, he's not going to go down as one of the greatest of all time, but there's no doubt he is a great striver in F1. And, you know, as he's shown in his career after F1, can, you know, turn his hand to other forms of motorsport quite successfully. I think he was Super G.T. champion, I believe. So obviously he won that championship as well he'd the the career in weck didn't know didn't necessarily go as way we got he got podiums there and that you know wax a bit of a

different beast tried out NASCAR big respect for him for too you know driving that NASCAR on the one that that's pretty cool quite frankly that so's bonus points but yeah button button was always he was you know his championship year he had a car that completely suited him and when you gave Jensen Button the car that completely suited him. He would demolish anyone, quite frankly. I think on those days obviously that combined

for one year for him to win in championship. We saw it quite often in his years at McLaren. On those days when him and the car were at one, he was so hard to stop. Over one lap, over a race distance, just super hard to stop.

So he should always be remembered for that. It's a shame he didn't get a competitive car for a bit longer. His competitive days didn't really start until he, it was 09, basically, and that was it. He had a glimpse of it in 06 with his first win, 04, the BAR, but Ferrari were too dominant for that to amount to anything other than some podium. So I always do think what would have happened had he got a better car sooner because there's potential that he had more wins under him. I don't think championships, but certainly more wins. But look, a very successful

career, a great ambassador for F Warner for motorsports. So yeah, well done, J.B. Great, great inning, son. And we look forward to seeing your handsome face on the TV for a lot longer. Yeah. Well, what a great career. I echo exactly what you just said. And I think one of the things that I always associate Jensen Button with is how, yes, we think of 2009 in the success that he had, but it was a real journey to get there. Like, it was a tough start to F1 for him. Good evening. Mr. but he proved himself over time right and he did it against some really tough competitors he didn't he's not one of those drivers that entered f1 and just won from the off like he worked hard to be a winner and you speak of his first win in 2006 i mean that was 115 races into his career and even

now that's still the sixth most all time of how many races into a career before your first win and I feel like after that he kind of breaks through the barrier he gets that first win and then it might all unfold for him beautifully after that and then he has to deal with 2007 and 2008 where collectively he gets nine points in those two years and then he goes into 2009 thinking

I might not have a seat with Honda leaving the sport and I've always feel like was Jensen Button somewhat fortunate to be in the position that he was in okay sure but I'm not sure there are drivers that deserve to be in that position more than Jensen Button did for the hard work that he put in to even get there. And he might have had a great card start 2009, but he still needed to convert. He won the first, or six of the first seven races in 2009.

He did that where Barrichello didn't. And he still needed to get that lead out before the others caught up. And that's exactly what he did. He's at Barrakello, Alonzo Hamilton, as teammates not an easy ride at all in that regard and he does continue to be an excellent ambassador for f1 so as you say harry looking forward to seeing more of jb in the future even if it's not in a in a racing capacity sam any thoughts on jb three stand-up moments you've had to summarize it the 2006 first wing the eyes through the helmet just shows you how elating he was what it meant to him what it meant to us we're meant to the commentary team if you go back and listen to it this was at a time where a bit of a tricky period.

We haven't had a lot of success for a while. And suddenly, J.B., had pushed through a really tricky period. And that moment in Hungary, you saw him, and to hear me his dad, the way that relationship went off the track was just beautiful to see. Then, of course, the championship winning 09.

I'm not going to go any further into that, but what a season he drove. And then, I think he's defying performance, Canada, 2011 is the one that stands above all others. That's almost one of the greatest performances in Formula One. People go back to it. It's one of the best drives you'll ever see. And he was always a master of the wear,

a master of tire where he kept his car clean for the most part. Aside, all of that on track, he's just a blimming, lovely bloke. Every time you see him talk, every time he speaks to someone, every time you hear about a fan interaction, he just comes across as an absolute sweet art. And he does Formula One so much justice.

And I'm really proud to have him as part of our sport. He does us so well. And he's bloody lovely lovely. on the eye as well. So I'm glad we've got them about. I'm glad he's going to stay part of the publicry team. And Jensen, you're always welcome here, love. You come on down for a cup of seeing a chat on like breaking. No, he's got plenty of friends where he currently works.

I'm sure he doesn't need to speak to us. Let's take our final break on this episode. On the other side, Stefan Guest the Year. Welcome back to the final part of today's episode. It's time for F1, guess the year. It's F1, guess the year. I forget every time I'll buy back. If you paid me money, I wouldn't know what that was.

That's excellent. Literally forgot. Yeah, forgot. You think that's bad. I can play fill in the blank if you want. No, no. That one I remember. That I get.

Six questions. Harry and Sam will take it in terms to pick a number. There will be three clues associated to one year in F1. All they have to do. It's guess the year. And we'll start with Sam. What number would you like? Number two, please, Ben.

Number two, here are your three clues. Laila Lombardi becomes the first woman to score points in F1. James Hunt wins his first race, and Nikki Lauder wins his first world title. Nicky Lauda, Nicky Lauda! I should have gone back and revised to the 70s Tales, Ben. You really should have done. Going back.

73? You're in the right. decade, but not 1973. Harry, any idea on this one? 75? 75 is correct. Well done.

Yeah, Leila Lombardi became the first woman to score points at the Spanish GP that year, although in truth, half a point, so score point in F1. James Hunt he won his first race before, of course, winning his first title the next year, and Nicky Lauder won his first of three

titles. Harry, what number would you like? Number four, please, Ben. Number four. The champion's teammate, the driver's champion's teammate, did not win a race all year. The champion didn't win any of the first three races of this season. And every single driver scored a point.

Um... Oh, no, I've no idea. Missing will drive has scored a point. 2013? Not 2013. Sam, any ideas? Mm. 11?

Not 2011 either. The champion's teammate did not win a race. That teammate was Valtry Bottas. The champion. Lewis Hamilton didn't win any of the first three races, and every driver scored a point in 2018. 18. Sergei Sorokkin was last in the championship

with a grand total of one point, but everyone scored that year. Well, what are you now? Sound back to you. I have three. Three. Okay, your free clues for number three. A Dutch driver finished last in the championship.

Championship. Seven drivers scored over 200 points, and Alpine had two podiums. Can I ask a clarifying question? Yes. I assume Alpine were actually called Alping. Yes, Alpine were Alping. A Dutch driver was last. That's what's throwing me off here.

Not that Alpine had two podiums. That's just mythical. 20, I don't know, 17. Not 2017. Harry, any ideas? 23? It was 23. That year was Nick DeVries.

I forget it exists every time. Yeah, seven drivers scored over 200 points. And Alpine, Ocon had third at Monaco and Gazda. had third at Zamvort, maybe. I mean, Rego was still here in 2017, you buffoon. Yes, pre-Alpine 2017. Now, Harry, can we perform a miracle? And can you get one right that isn't?

That actually is your question, sorry. Yeah, this is good, so far. Number one, please. Number one. A McLaren driver competed in one Grand Prix and got a podium. Giancarlo Fizichella won a race. And a Portuguese driver got a podium. 2005.

You are correct. 2005 is the right answer. A McLaren driver competed in one Grand Prix and got a podium. That was Alex Verst, who got P3 and his only outing when one Publa and Montoya got a tennis injury. Famously. It wasn't tennis, I promise. Fisicela won the first.

race of that year, the Australian GP, and a Portuguese driver got a podium, which was Tiago Montero at the 2005 United States GP when there were only six drivers who started that race. Sam, back to you. I've only got one number left. Two numbers left. Six? Six is an acceptable answer. I think, Harry, there, I really forgot. Your three clues for number six. The champion won the title by over 100 points. Mark Weber won the Brazilian GP. And the first Indian GP is held.

Ah. 2010? Oh, man. Gosh. Damn it. I never get these right. You said this year already. Is it 2011 again?

It's 2011. Yeah. Yeah, of course, Vettel's backyard was created in 2011, the Indian Grand Prix. Mark Weber didn't win a race outside of the last race of the season, which was in Brazil. That sounds like a good idea, didn't we have in Brazil last? And Betel walked that championship by well over 100 points, which means Harry, back to you for number... Five, please, Ben. It's a changed man.

Your three clues. Ferrari win their first constructor's title for six. 16 years, three British drivers win a race, and Michael Schumacher competes in the season, but he is not the highest-placed German driver. 1999. He's nailed it. 1999 is correct. Ferrari win their Constructed as Championship first time since 1983.

Johnny Herbert wins the European Grand Prix. David Coulthar wins a few races, and Eddie Irvine wins four races as well. And Schumacher, as partly a result of missing most of the season because of a broken leg, he doesn't finish ahead of Heinz-Herald Frensen, who was third in the championship, and is German and not Argentinian. Common mistake, I think. Well, I know Guess the Year was fun, and I know Vanessa enjoyed it, but there are plenty of better segments out there.

And I can think of one right now. In fact, I'm just going to come out and say it. I think it's the greatest segments. in all of podcasting. It is the... I'll be question of the week. Week. I can't believe that this is still the same episode

we spoke about, I guess, it's come up again. Hey, I've... No, I've got nothing about that. Okay, question of week. Well, we just brought it up. The Interlagos is obviously not last race of the season. It once was. how can we get it reinstated as that final race of the year?

Plenty of funny answers, as always. I'll kick off with the username is usually pretty ugly, but I believe they're called Nick, who just said, we add a third lake, which is a great idea. So there's two lakes at the moment. Just trying to get up my head around this. There's two legs at the moment in Salagos. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And the track can't go over it. It's got to be like in between it, right? We can't go under it. I can't go over it. It's got to be in between it. Oh, they should name their track after that. That's a great idea. I feel poorly informed, to be honest.

I should know that already. I am dead inside. There are so many answers about interlagos and being in between the two lakes. I render bear, tell our dear leader that the kids love into Lagos. Yeah, good one. Not that.

I haven't had this for a while from Dakota. Double dog dare them. Got him. Go on do it now. Oh, gosh. By the way, there are quite a few answers that won't be read out for obvious reasons if you know what they are.

You're not necessarily wrong, but you're kind of are. But you're also wrong. Yeah. Dawson Rage with just says cheese dot dot dot a lot to make of that what you will I like this one from Hillary telling that Brazil was ahead of Abu Dhabi at the apex

oh oh good answer good answer love that one Danny I'm a sucker for a pun by making the drivers drive the Lego cars and call it into Lagos that is a name I can get on board with this one here from Bryce who said

Mungy which has been changed for goods and services which is also a great Simpson's reference Clayton Ellis on Instagram says

threaten them with Sam's Masheda Wayne Michael Kane impression and they've written M-A-S-H-T-A M-T-A

oh Mashed-Way I don't think I've ever I've never think to each other before The worst impression

Between the two Cates So when they go through with Michael Ems And then they go that To turn Cain It's between the two cunts Most of one

Oh thank you Michael It's a Cain shell Thank you for I got for choosing To get that out again Oh I'll contact's LB Oh That's made my date

Oh My story Merked in real life Telling to Lagos It's been banned for life And in 15 years That we're back in charge Oh, crikey

You guys are really swinging punches Yeah Um Carl just said grunks Yeah, I just saw that No, no Oh no Carl, no

Huss, I'd so many We can't read out You're all wrongans Yeah, you guys have been quite gna with this one. I've got one from Matt, which is because they should ignore the drama of Interlagos at their peril.

Nice. Yeah. Duke Rainbow, his Dr. Eva voice says, $1 million. I don't know that's enough. No, totally honest.

A lot of people saying have Saudi Arabia reinvest, which, yeah, I understand. I'm all out. I can't read the rest of you out because you're all wrong. From, Seb, we will throw custard creams at all Liberty Media shareholders until they give up.

I ain't giving up custard creams for that purpose, mate. Also, they'll never stop. They'll just keep taking the custard creams because I would if someone threw them at me in protest. Final one from Cooper, Brazil nuts. Yep. Yeah, okay. I like how that isn't expanded in any way whatsoever. That's the answer by itself.

Thank you very much for all of your answers on both Instagram and on Twitter. We'll be back, of course, next week with another question of the week. Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. From Fingessa to Bing Meng to Michael Kane, this episode has really had it all. So hopefully that's enough for you to go buy a gift card for someone new to listen to the show for a whole year. Thanks for supporting the show.

Thanks for checking out. Loads more content to come, both on Patreon, of course, on the main episodes all the way through to the end of the year. We've got lots of fun stuff, even after the season end. So don't stop risking all the way through the off period. We are here. Join the Discord. Check out patient.

You can follow us on social media, late breaking F1. And in the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Vanessa White. I remember keep breaking late. She's engaged as well, Ben. You didn't mention that. Double news.

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