The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Episode 5 - Singapore GP Review: Should Sergio Perez get a race ban?

Episode Date: September 17, 2018

Lewis Hamilton dealt another blow to Sebastian Vettel's title aspirations with a dominant victory at the Singapore GP. The German driver now trails by 40 points with just six races to go.The more controversial point of the race came when Sergio Perez made contact with the Williams of Sergey Sirotkin. Perez had been following the slower Williams for a while, and when he finally got past, let his frustrations take a hold and decided to take a swipe at the Williams.Perez only harmed himself by getting a puncture, and the subsequently being slapped with a drive through. But should he get a race ban for his actions?We discuss this as well as all the other talking points from the race in this latest podcast.Make sure to SUBSCRIBE and leave a review! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Hello everyone. My name is Ben Hocking. My name is Harry Ede. And my name is Sanglesage. And welcome to the Lake Breaking podcast here on Drive Tribe. We've just had the Singapore Grand Prix. And there was one man in particular who made it a little bit of a crash dickle.

Sounds a bit like a male genital. No, we're not calling it that. Sergio Perez. He was starting to drive himself straight into Tifgadales. Driver of the day. Sergei, Sergei Zerokkin, do we think that he deserves a race bag for his craziness at the weekend, boys?

It's worth bearing in mind, that's for sure. Yeah, we've got a lot of topics ready to go through today, including the Sergio Perez thing that will get on to. We're going to talk about whether the championship is over or not. We're going to have a look at whether Hamilton. Is he the greatest qualifier of all time? Does he have a claim to that after Saturday? And maybe a little bit about blue flag etiquette as well.

But yes, as he said... Wolf flag. Sergio Perez. Yeah. It was not his best race. That is my conclusion. It was not his best race. I mean, that's sitting on the fence. Come on, then. Yes. I don't think he should get a race ban. And that's based on the fact that I think the collision was totally stupidly reckless, but not intentional.

Okay. I think it was awful. It was so moronic from Perez. And I think very highly of him. I say that quite often on streams. but it was moronic by his standards. I don't think it was intentional based on the fact that why would it be? There was literally no reason for him to drive straight into Sorokkin. He was the one that had to go into the pits at the end of the lap. But I don't think he did do it intentionally.

I think it was just a moment of complete loss of concentration. I can't see how it was intentional because there is no logic behind that at all. He had to pit. He was the one that lost out. So he was getting the move done, the thing that he was trying to do. do for laps on end, why would he then drive into Sorokkin on purpose? That's the only reason I wouldn't give him a race ban. I would give him a drop right to the back of the grid at Russia.

I'd give him a healthy amount of penalty points as well, but not a race ban. Well, if we think that Holkenberg in SPAR, I know it was a big crash, but Holkenberg in SPAR, his was completely accidental. He gets 10-place good penalties. I don't think, I know it was maybe not intentional, I don't think it was completely accidental on Perez's part. He definitely meant to swerve over, even if he didn't mean to hit, well, even if he didn't mean to hit, Sergo, Sorokkin.

So a drive-thru, she's really lenient. If we think back to Vettel last year, he's got a bigger penalty for bumping into Hamilton. So I think the penalty he got was not harsh enough, but I think a raceground would be too harsh. Sam, what do you reckon? Well, let's take it through step by step. So on the first lap, takes out his teammate.

in a team that are struggling to regain their position across the championship, claimed not to see the car. When the car was nose to nose alongside him, it wasn't behind him, they weren't next to each other firmly. He will comfortably see that car, takes out his teammate. No real reprimand came of that. Racing incident was delivered. The penalty enough, I suppose, was that poor Augusta Van Okong is going to be out of the drive

and didn't get the chance to prove himself. We'll get onto that in a little bit. The second part is being stuck behind a car, which is the worst car by far across the whole. Susan, lap after lap after that. And you can hear Perez was getting aggravated. At one point he did say, do you want me to crash into him?

He openly said that on his radio. So, oh, I'm a bit annoyed now. I'm going to drive past him. He threw the car to the left, and then all he got was a drive-through penalty when Sergei Sorokkin ended up getting a five-second stop-go penalty, which is a more severe punishment when there was no incident cause. Yes, he deserves a one-race ban.

if Holkenberg gets a 10 place grip penalty for an accidental collision on a first lap corner and the first lap of the race Sergei Sorokkin gets a ban he gets to lose his points and I am gutted that O'Conn is the one fighting for a seat and not Perez

Perez. Perez can get out of the sport it doesn't deserve to be in the sport anymore he's at his time let him move on now let's something else have a go and open a second speaking of the Ockon incident when I first saw it

the replays we saw during the race. I didn't, I thought it was just a racing incident. And then I saw a replay after the race, which, courtesy of Sky. And Perez actually opens his steering up. So he's going around the corner and he straightens up the wheel and then he hits. I don't know why, though. I don't know what he's done that for.

Why is he not trying to get around the corner? Because Grojean was to his left. He wasn't alongside him, but Grojean and Perez went almost side by side into that corner. Grojean on his left, which is perhaps why he did that. He should have seen Ockon was there. It was clumsy from Perez. But at the same time, I do think it was ambitious from Ockon to just stick his car in there mid-corner. True.

I thought a racing incident was the right decision, as is often the case on opening laps. They tend to go down that direction, don't they really? And I completely agree with you that that alone was a racing incident. But when you're then going to take previous points and go, he was clearly built up and causing aggravation on the track. I think he's attacked another drive on the track. That for me is, I think it's a one time race bans and a one time where you need to look at a series of incidents. And that was dangerous from Perez.

Twice. He nearly caused DNS and into the walled incidents. And I think then you need to review a race and go, you push it there, mate. I think you deserve to sit out for a race. You sit in the corner. Yeah. Yeah. Sit in your little corner and have a moan.

Well, yeah. I mean, the Sorokkin incident was, was. was terrible. And perfect to for not actually binning it in the wall I thought it was pretty good safe from Sorokane.

I'm glad that the commentators did actually make that point during the race because that did need to be made. He defended very well. It was resolute defending from Sorokkin and Perez

maybe there's temperament issues there because he shouldn't buy this son. You text us during the race saying is Perez 2013 like he was in a McLaren all over again. Yeah, absolutely.

But yes. Sergio Perez, not his best race. Some people are saying, Alan on the face it was saying a two race ban. Wow. Yeah, Colin agreeing with Sam saying, Ocon should be at Force India, not Perez. Yeah, it's a tragedy.

We'll get onto the Ocon. Offen not having a drive next year a bit later. Moving on, after Lewis Townington's win, is it game over? Are we done? There's a fat lady, where she's clearing the throat.

Well, give Eddie Jordan a call, and he'll tell you, Yes, she is. Is the championship over? Not quite, but it is heading that way very, very quickly. And if Ferrari don't do something instantly, and I think at this point, Hamilton is probably going to need a DNF somewhere. If he doesn't get a DNF, I can't see how Ferrari are going to reclaim the advantage.

Well, if Vetter wins every race and HALT will still win. Yeah. When we say the championship over, actually, I'm referring to here the driver's championship. I think it's very nearly over. The Constructors' Championship, I still think it's completely up for grabs. And in actual fact, I still think Ferrari will win the Constructors Championship. Oh, really? Yeah. Well, based on the Bottas.

Yeah, Bottas isn't in great form. Ryken is on slightly improved form. And I think, generally speaking, the car is better. I mean, this race didn't indicate that, but most races around it have. Yes. But, yeah, another weekend. We thought Vettel would have the advantage coming into this weekend. Singapore, Mercedes, not necessarily the best of that service.

in recent years and Hamilton delivers that incredible qualifying lap and the circuit helped him on his way. It's very difficult to get close and overtake and Hamilton dictated it from there. Guys watching, I'd love to know what you think. Do you think the championship is done? Sam, what do you reckon? I think if Lewis Hamilton goes on to win the next race, or just beat Vettel next race, I think even though yes, categorically it isn't one, I think Vettel have to have such a tremendous comeback. And Hamilton, don't be wrong, this is a British person looking at British sport, we have some of the worst luck. Hamilton could have three engine failures in the last six races.

I wouldn't be shocked. I would not be shocked. But Hamilton's always had great luck in F1, though. I don't know. You had the most number of races completed ever without a DNF. I mean, yeah, okay, that's a fair point. It's a fair point. But I think realistically, Hamilton has it in the bag.

I think it will spice it up massively if Hamilton had two DMFs. And, you know, we were there eight points apart or whatever on the last race. It'd be brilliant. But I do think that Hamilton is going to say. Hamilton dictated this race. It was one of his best races I've seen Hamilton do. That qualifying lap was awe-inspiring. My mouth fell open.

I was sat at an empty house and I went, oh my God, looking across that line. It was impeccable. He was unbeatable this weekend. So, yeah, I think realistically it's done-and-dusted. Well, that quality lap came out of just bloody nowhere. I mean, I know Ferrari looked quicker again and it was going to be close, but... Yeah, absolutely that was going to happen. It was a ridiculous lap.

Yeah, it was about five and a half seconds quicker than the Williams guys, which might speak more to how bad Williams are, but also speaks that brilliant that lap. Well, my favourite stab from the weekend was that it was 11.9 seconds quicker than Hamilton's own qualifying lap from 2009. Yes, yeah. I think of cars, obviously, but it's a thing is with Hamilton as well. It's all about timing. His timing has been fantastic this year.

Whenever he's needed to pull out a race win or pull out a brilliant qualifying lap, he's generally done it. And you look at, I did an article a couple of weeks ago, profiling Vettel's mistakes this year, because he's had quite a few. And I noticed at the end of it,

Hamilton has actually won every single race where Vettel has made a mistake. You think of Germany, you think of Azerbaijan, you think of France. He's won them all. Whereas Vettel hasn't when, you know, they retired from Austria. He didn't win that one, did he? So, yeah.

And you're right. And at the start of the year as well, when the first few races, Hamilton didn't win a race, didn't it? We had four races, didn't he? He hadn't had a race win or something. But he was still picking out the points. I think I remember saying this at the time. It didn't matter because he still leading the championship,

or at least within touching distance. And that's proved pretty helpful now. and then he smashed these last couple of wins out and it's been pretty dominant. I think a key point is that Hamilton has only now won two races less than what he won previously for his previous world title. He won, I think, seven or nine races, and he's now two away from that.

So if he wins two more, the chances are he's pretty much won the title. And Vettel for the first time this year after the race, he looked just looked broken, didn't he? Yeah, I think he's fully aware of the situation. that he's in now. And this is arguable, but I think if you look at Betel's career, I think every year,

so far up until this year, every year he's had the best car, he's won the championship. I think he had the best car in 2010, 11, 12, 13, he won all those years. You could argue I still think Mercedes had the better car last year. So this could be the first year where Vettel has had the car

to win, and he won't. I can't see who asked that. Kevin. Was his lap down to skill or luck? Hamilton's? Yeah, definitely luck. Skill. Botass is. Botas is government and definite skill. And I think if it weren't for Hamilton's like, if Hamilton's lap, if Hamilton's lap, you take that out, people would be speaking a lot about the Stapleton's lack because

I think that was just as good. That was quality. But the pair of them were above everyone else by miles this weekend. Yeah. And so I think someone was word out if, I think it was Karun actually, Karun Chandok. He said that if you gave him the same engine, or put the power deficit, equal the power deficit, it was about a 10th, didn't it? Maybe, or maybe it's less than that.

So, yeah, for Staffan is the second, the second best out of the weekend, I reckon. Yeah. Well, speaking of Red Bull, what did you reckon, Sam? Well, both of us agreed on Thursday. They might be in for a good weekend,

and it kind of didn't quite happen, particularly on Ricardo's side of the garage. Yeah, you mentioned that there, Ricardo's side of the garage. It was a tale of two ends kind of thing. you know for Stappen was on some of the

of the best form of his life this race that qualified of Lappans was pure skill but for Stappans was

I mean he was three tenths away at Red Bull and we've seen how far off that Red Bull could be this season that Singapore

track is not like Monaco you need more power it's much longer the Ferrarians have got a lot more than a partaging

a straight line and for Stappan his qualifying that was you know it showed real class Ricardo

he seemed almost angry after the race. You look at his social media and the like, so he's saying it's not good enough, I'm not happy, this is what I want, I want more. I just don't think he was with it this race weekend. There's something that didn't know right for him. I think mentally he,

I think he came in quite psyched up. He thought there's a chance of, because, you know, went to Monaco and he won it, and I think he thought he could win. So I think that's probably why he looked even more disappointed after the race. And you're right on social media, he put up like two Instagram stories and then just blank with some words, which isn't usual for happy

Ricardo was quite a somber. That's somber Danny Rick. Yeah. Not what do you want to see? No, not at all. I respect him for trying something different from sixth place on the grid. He had nothing to lose.

I understand why he went out longer than everyone else. And yeah, he ended up just a second or so behind Reichen and Bottas. But yeah, that qualifying kind of set the pace. He said that afterwards, well, didn't he said,

you know, you can always hope but he sort of knew of the race he was going to have from six. Yeah, yeah. I just want to give a massive shout out to the Red Bull team in terms of the Stappen's strategy. They played that to absolute perfection. Even though Bostappen made a slight mistake coming out of the pit lane, he still held off Bettle perfectly.

They tied that pit stop and that strategy to perfection. And you can hear the elationing his voice when he came out of the pits. It was a problem like, yes, you know, like, I've done it. I'll ban him. And he took off after that. Betel didn't pose a threat to Bostepin for the rest of. that race. You're absolutely right. The Stappan did nail the strategy,

but on the flip side of things, Ferrari, they absolutely mince theirs. What were they doing? First of all, they put him right behind Perez, which was moronic in the first race. Even you and I

and Sam watching this race and we're idiots. But even we realize that if you're the one to pit first and you fall back in traffic, you're going to be screwed because you're stuff be trapped. Why they did not wait until Vettel had cleared that top six, I do not, I've cleared

everyone behind the top six, I should say. I don't know. And then you have to actually focus on what tire they put him on. Why on earth did they put the ultra soft tire on? Clearly they were either A, stupid or B, trying a two-stop, which is stupid. So,

A's loose, pretty much. Yeah, the ultra-soft tire. It was stupid. Why didn't they just put him on the soft tire? And one stop it. This was always going to be a one-stop. This was always going to be a processional affair. You can't make a two-stop work around Singapore. Ferrari once again mess up their strategy,

and it looks like it's going to cost them. Well, we saw on Saturday as well, because Vetter was questioning whether they put him out on the outlap in Q3, because he got stuck behind the Mercedes cars, and they were doing slower outlap. So it's just stuff like that. They're just not quite as sharp as Mercedes, a red ball. And it's, yeah, I mean, I don't think that was a complete reason that they lost.

but it was a contributing factor. They didn't help themselves with that. I said it on Thursday. They've forgotten how to consistently win. They're not used to it. They don't know what they're doing. They haven't consistently won for so long that I think Mercedes are more equipped to it.

Sam, your thoughts on Feza? It's a little bit embarrassing for the team that have won that many world titles. I think they haven't won a world title in so long that, again, Ben, yeah, they don't know how to win anymore. They've got themselves in such a mental slump about being victorious that I think the say is are so sharp and the resilience that the sage is displayed to wait.

Vettel came in and Hamilton stayed and he stayed and he stayed and he stayed. And Hamilton throughout this season a couple of times has really burnt out his ties a little bit too early. But Monsa and Singapore, he used those ties to perfection. Betel went in and he went. He started putting in fastest slap, fastest slap. And he nailed that pit stop. The same is nailed.

They were slightly slower than Veto, I think, by 0.2 of the second. It was clean. It was precise. He got out. He was the whole start-finger straight ahead of Bettle. Four seconds the time gap was. That is a huge gap to all of a sudden have over a car that is faster than you at a track that you are technically slower at. Probably got to the end of Q2 and they were no longer the fastest car.

I don't know what happened, but they were not the fastest car after Q2. Yeah, absolutely right. Well, speaking of qualifying, we have obviously. referred to Hamilton and his qualifying lap. And debate time. Hamilton, is he the best qualifier ever? I think I'd still put Senna on top, but he's,

of the current crop, and perhaps in the last, in the last 20 years, he's the guy you'd have on a Saturday afternoon. I think Mark Weber said it on the Channel 4 coverage. he said he's up you have him Senna and Eddie Jordan said Schumacher but Schumacher probably better for us he was quick but better for a Sunday afternoon

same with Alonzo so for a qualifying day he's he's I don't think he's quite there with Senna I don't think he's quite there but he's getting it's undenied with those isn't it the amount of polls he's had now and people say yeah he's had the best car but I'm not sure he actually had the best car this weekend but that poll lab just as I said earlier

it came out of nowhere it did and the Bessel couldn't match it. So it's stuff like it's those laps that make him one of. I'm not going to say the best. Fair enough. Sam, your thoughts. It's really tough.

I mean, Harry makes a really good point. Sagar is definitely up there. I think Hamilton, after this weekend, in my opinion, has just tipped the scales. I think he has become the best qualifier of all time. Are you right? He has had a Derry-Dongrelman car for many years, but so is his teammate.

And the amount of the times that he's beating his teammate on a Saturday his time after time after time. And remember he had the same car as Alonso. And Alonso was at his peak at that point. You know, one of his racing, you know, the ambition and the strength that he had. He beat him. He's beat him. He's beaten.

You know, so many strong drivers. Bottas came to that team road to go. He beat him comfortably. He's beating everyone in the coming out of the country. I think J.B. once across the season he didn't beat him. But that wasn't in qualifying. I think that was just racing. We also, I think, beat you qualified.

Yeah, in Butterner, it was really admitted that he couldn't touch him. and call it whatever a race. That man has the ability to extract a lap on about one lap. He puts on those ties, the fuel is at the lowest,

at Hamilton, his skill is just going fast. He wants to go fast and he goes fast. Can't argue with that. Yeah, I don't personally think Hamilton is the best qualifier of all time.

But the fact that he's even in the discussion in the first place says everything that you need to know. For me, it's either him, Clark,

Fangio or Sena and I don't think you can make a case for anyone outside of those four. Personally speaking, I don't think anyone outside of those four can touch them. You know, Fangio is a really good case. Fangio was on poll about 55% of the time he stepped in a car. Hamilton, by comparison, 35 and I understand obviously Euras. Yeah. For me, it's Senna. For me, Sena is the greatest qualifier of all time.

You were right, Sam, when you say, you know, his, to Hamilton's, teammates have not been on poll as much as Hamilton has. Hamilton's had 79 polls. His teammates have had 38. But by comparison, Senna, 65 polls, his teammates have had a collective total of nine. That's ridiculous. Senna was outqualified 18 times in his career. Hamilton's been outqualified 83 times.

For that, that's the reason I can't pick Hamilton over Senna. This is a slightly off topic, but I'm moving on to podcast. minute. But there were afternoons when Rosberg could out-qualify Hamilton. And people don't like Rosberg and, you know, he's a bit boring. But I think Bottas is showing that

what a good job, Rosberg did against Hamilton, especially, as we say, on a Saturday afternoon to get a lab. Maybe not ever a race, but sometimes on a Saturday. It was close. Hamilton had 35 poles. Rosberg had 29 in their time together. That's close. And Rosberg beat Hamilton 11-7 over a season.

I mean, Bottas isn't getting close to that, but I never got close to that. Alonso didn't get close to that. True. Okay, before we start a war about Rosberg, let's just move on to about three Bottas. But another lackluster, well, more of a lackluster weekend

than he did in Monza, to be honest. It was, at least in Monza, he was properly helping, I know he kept Weikening behind him this weekend, but he was even further off the pace. And do we think that they'd pick the right guy? Botas is on a terrible run of form and we saw something similar last year,

I should say. But no, they did not pick the wrong driver, they picked the correct driver. I think Bottas is worthy of that seat. And to be honest, I think people are showing short memories. I think Bottas in the first half of this season did very well. And just because he's in a slump now

doesn't mean he isn't the right guy. Botas is not anywhere near Hamilton, and that's indisputable. But I don't think Ocon would be at this point in his career either. Look, if you thought Ockon should have been in the car, when Bottas was doing really well at the beginning of the season, when he was deserving of victories, fair enough, understand. But if you've only just got to that conclusion now, I think you're just rolling with the tide of he's not doing very well.

You're a sheep. Yeah. Look, if Botas should have had wins early in the season. And if at that point you thought, no, Ockon should be in that seat, fair enough. I think we were seeing a different Bottas too, because if he had had the luck earlier this year and got those few wins, then he may be able to have been in the hunt. And they've headstress dropped, isn't he's got the contract?

He's just playing second fiddle. He even though he's admitted he's doing it. And he's just doing what the team wanted. to now. So perhaps it is unfair. And I said this after Monza. I do worry it's doing his cred as an actual racing driver

a bit of harm. Possibly. As a team player, none at all. Sam, would you reckon? Bottas is he the right man to keep Mercedes? So at the end of last season,

I did say that I think Ocon should get a chance. I don't think it was, I didn't say it categorically the outright rule Bottas out as a driver. I think he's an incredible driver. But I do think that O'Con should get a chance about Mercedes. And I really hate that he has a chance.

a chance of not racing at all next season. If we're going to talk just about Bottas, you're right, he had a really good start of the season. He did miss out on a few wings.

And honestly, I believe those few wings were the different between what could be a future world champion and won't be a world champion. I don't think Bottas will ever be a world champion.

I think when Mr. Toto came out and said to the public that Bottas was a perfect wing man, I think that destroyed Bottas' confidence. I think after that point, there was no chance

that Bottas ever thought that he was going to get a proper wing a proper championship go, especially what Hamilton was at the team. There's a few people in the chat saying it keeps Hamilton from crying or whatever other phrase it.

Hamilton is outdriven Bottas for the rest of the season. Even when he wasn't at the front, Hamilton majoratively had better races. And I just don't think Bottas is good enough. I think, yes, he deserves you that seat for now. If his form continues for the rest of the season,

as it is currently, I do think O'Cogian had a go. Yeah. Here's my third. thing about Ocon. And I think Ocon's got a good future in F1 if he can saw out this seat. He deserves a seat next year. Absolutely deserves a seat next year. But what has Ocon shown to get that second Mercedes seat? For me, he's been good. I think he's had a really good first season and I think he's done well so far this season as well. But whereas Bottas at Williams

made Massa look average, O'Con is not making Perez look average. True. O'Con, you know, let's look at the fact that Okon did not beat Perez last year. Ocon is not beating Perez this year. And it's true. It's true. And I've seen so many comments saying Perez should not be in the sport next year and Ocon should get the seat over. I understand that Ocon is going to improve.

And I think maybe by this time next year, maybe two years time, O'Con will be better than Perez. But at least at the moment, they are evenly matched. There is nothing between them. And if O'Con doesn't get a seat in F1 next year, I think that's mostly the fault of F1. But I think it's also slightly a fault of him as well, because he hasn't put himself in a position where employers cannot not take him.

Look at Hamilton. He went into F1, first season, matched a two-time defending world champion. At that moment, if you are a team, you can't not take him. You can't not take someone that good. Ockon, whilst he's had a good first couple of years, hasn't been that authoritative force. he hasn't had the races where he's like, right, we have to take this gun

over this other pay driver. I think he deserves a seat in F1 next year. Don't you get me wrong? Absolutely. But you're right, to be fair, Perez is the one who's still picked up the podium and often, hasn't. That's the problem for me.

I don't know what to do it. You drop the bonchow there, Ben. Yeah. Look, you can't argue with the fact. And who knows? Next year, Botas, start the year like he did this year and have the luck and he runs

not runs off of the championship but he's in the hunt and we might be this this will be a distant memory this conversation yes but often and I'm sure you'd agree he's his star of the future one of the stars of the future he's just not of the now

not star I think he's good now don't get he's not he's not he's not ready now as just someone I think he's on drive to say that they should get bought us out for Okun or George Russell. Now, George Russell definitely is a range for going. Maybe in a Williams, I heard that was a rumour, but not in a, not in a Mercedes or maybe a four send here. The midfield, quickly.

The midfield, yeah. It existed, didn't it? It did. It had it. Something happened. Some things happened. Alonzo, he got some points, some decent points, and that was all because he qualified in the 11th. Yeah, pretty much. Oh, thank you. Thank you, that you boys said that. I thought I was going to be the only one arguing and everyone's going on about how it was the drive of the year. He qualified 11th. All the people who were fucking had had poor tyre choice. Yes, he drove well.

But it was, it was classic Alonzo in a way, but it wasn't, you know, I didn't do better drives. He didn't have to do much. He just sort of stayed out in front until they kept a gap to, he was just gaping the Williams, I think, and then he stopped and he came back out on the seventh. In fairness to Alonzo, and I do think he only finished seventh because of the tires of the top ten and also how. Perez and Ockon and all that happened.

But he did finish about 20 seconds clear of signs. True. And signs started P12 on the same tire. So that's what I give him the most credit for. And he was, so he was 30, 40 seconds ahead of the Salba guys as well. So I think he had a really good race. But you are right in that it was not absolutely exceptional. Renaud, better weekend for Renault.

Yeah, I think they did well. but at the same time, I don't know about you, it always seems to me as if Renault did really well on the weekends where the top six guys don't retire. It seems to me that that always happens.

Yes, they can never get any further than seven. Yeah, it does seem like that. And they take five points away from the weekend. I mean, it's five more than has to it, but at the same time, that's not fantastic. Yeah, Sam, thoughts, a quick thought on Renault. Renault. Renaud, well, Renault what?

I think that realistically You just say Renault what? Yeah, I did. That's disgusting. I love it. Anyway, I think realistically, the only thing that Sykes could have done was beat alongside.

He didn't. But it was a good solid drive from science. It wasn't anything spectacular. Hulkeberg was a bit unfortunate due to reasons we've already discussed. Probably should be a few slower cars around him. But yeah, it was

all right, some solid points over Haas, I suppose. Claire. Really is Ferrari. Yeah. And, actually, the thing impressed me most about Lecler was, you know, the future Red Bull

future Ferrari driver Gasly and Leclair when Gasly's tires were going off and he didn't lunge up the inner side he just sort of it was just clever

and calculated and he just waited for Gassley just to just to lock up go a bit winding you know undercut and off he went it was just

yeah and you can see why they want him a fair play to Leclair I thought it was a really good race because I don't think that Salba was good enough

for ninth I don't think that's how well And Erickson did okay, it's hard to be fair Not as good obviously but Erickson did fine They left him out a few laps too long But other than that Yeah

Um Any around to the midfield Um I was going to say actually The Sorokin and Hartley thing Where Sorokin got the penalty I thought that was really harsh Because if you look on board with Hartley He's actually full lock right although

I think you missed the corner himself I don't think Sirotkin being there Had any impact on it I think Hartley would have followed exactly the same path regardless of whether Sorokka. Yeah. No, I think if you look at Hartley, he is full lock right at almost all times when he's going in that corner.

He didn't ever have to go left to avoid Sorokkin. I think that kind of, he was really harsh. I know he did sort of maybe slightly force him. He didn't think he did, but it wasn't by accident. He made this point earlier, not as worse as the Perez incident. So why they gave him the penit? That was crazy. yeah sorrogan did a good

was being a sorokin good job though good job defending but don't know why they left him out so long yeah sure not a good race doesn't deserve 10 out of 10 for sure old it but uh blue flags and we saw charlie whiteing good to see hamilton after the race to apologize which i've never seen before

um because we had that instant where there are lots of car but i mean what more they were racing to be honest and they did as i think it is as good as they kid I didn't, the Grosjean one, is that when he got on the way of the Stappen? Of Hamilton.

Hamilton, and the stuff? Well, it was when he was battling with the Williams, I think. They're right. Yeah, I mean, harsh, but I don't know, they were racing. It was a difficult one to judge. Sam, do you think the blue flag etiquette needs to be revised at all?

It's a tough one. I think if the Stappen had got past Hamilton in all of that kerfuffling that was going, on, then I think we'll be in a bit of an up for all because it's a bit of a totally unfair battle while everyone was trying to avoid collisions. But he didn't. And everything worked out exactly how it already was before. So it provided some excitement. What I do think is, maybe something that should be revised, is that the cars being lapped cannot overtake each other while they're being lapped. That's the one thing I can think of that stops them and goes, right, we're not racing

anymore, we're being a lap, so we need to now get out of the way and let them carry on, and we can carry on racing. And even then, if they have like almost a VSC type thing where they have a gap that they go, oh, I should be allowed to, I mean, it might be too complicated, but no overtaking under blue flags to me seems like the obvious situation to

let everyone have the right away. Those guys are in faster cars. They are fighting for a championship. That should be impeded by people who are going slower than them. It's only normally a problem on the street circuit. That would have been a problem of Monsor or, I don't know. Yeah.

I actually think that's a I was going to say something very similar to that. I think it might be a good idea. So hard to manage, though. The problem is, though, you've got these teams now, and apart from the top six guys,

anyone else can at any point be a backmarker, right? Because that's just the dominance of the top six. These guys, the Haas and all the other teams, they are fighting over millions upon millions of pounds of prize money. And if you're too, if you just get out the way of a backmark,

of someone like Hamilton, and that concedes a position for you or means you can't overtake someone, that could be really costly. True. I mean, it's sort of a better mind to it, wouldn't it?

Yeah. Imagine that. But imagine if Sorokkin lost his only point because he was overtaken under blue flag additions. True. But that's the way the cookie crumbles. What a phrase.

I'm not going to say that again anytime soon. Okay. So, from the people that bought you the bullometer. If you don't watch on Thursdays, you won't understand the reference. If you don't watch it at all. We have something that is designed to rate the race.

You're going to love this. I don't actually know that. I love it, but... Yeah, no, you may hate it, but... So, presenting... Putting drivers on a bar chart, Formula One Grand Prix rating system. It's a really catchy name,

and I expect everyone to know it off by heart. We worked really, really hard on that title, okay, guys? So, let's explain. First lap, we will decide out of five lance strolls, because that is the obvious way to rank it. How well the first lap rated? Was it exciting? Was it not exciting? All right, and guys, let us know what you think.

How many lance strolls out of five does the first lap deserve? You'll get that. Don't worry. This is brilliant. Overtakes. How good were the overtakes in the race? And obviously on that one, you have to rank them out of five Daniel Riccados. Because he's quite going to overtaking. Yeah. Crashes. Crashes make a good Grand Prix, I guess.

And, I mean, you've probably guessed already who is going to be. Hello, Pastor. There is. Good lad. Yeah. How many Pastor Maldonados out of five were the crashes in the race? And then our race rating is a bit different. If you thought it was a one out of five against a UGEE day,

not the best race driver in the world. Two out of five is a Jolian Palmer. A three out of five, solid halfway point for Nick Hydefeld. A four out of five is a Fernando Alonzo and a five out of five is a Michael Schumacher. Beautiful. Right. Everyone understand the rules of that. Please say it. Yeah, I'm not explaining it again. Yes. Right, first lap, what will be giving this and guys, let us know what you think?

I would give the first lap three and a half Landström's. Emphasis on the half. Sam, I could see Sam's laughing, but... Okay, we'll go out to Sam later. As if we're allowed to put this on the internet. I think, I know a wonderful creation. But the first of that, for me, because of that, O-Conn crash. Yeah, all right, yeah, three and a half, Lance Scrolls. I'm with you on that, then.

One, two. And then just how... Michael Brown in the chat's gone for one and a half, Lance Scrolls. Wow, didn't rate the start. There was a crash and everything. Oh, man, come on. O'Con went into a wall. Right, overtakes, what do you reckon?

John on the chat, on Facebook, has gone for two Danny Riggs. I think he's close. I think two. Is it two Danny Ricks? Sam? Two and a half, but I can agree with the majority. Yeah, I think, okay, two Danny Ricks. Let's go with two Danny Ricks.

For a variation. Guys. It's not enough when it comes to Daniel Rutherland. Crashes. What do we think? How many Maldonados does this race deserve? How many Maldonados? A solid parades has upped it to a solid four past a Maldonados.

It's got to be four crasheders, doesn't it? It's got to be four. We're going for a full four? I reckon so, yeah. Four past the Maldonados. Maybe we'll have to change out to Sergio Perez after this week. Crickey. And finally, a race rating.

What driver does it get up to for the race? Is it a UGE day or is it a Michael Schumacher? Well, it's definitely not a Michael Schumacher that race. I personally think it was a Jolian Parver. So I'm a two out of five. I think it's a Julian Palmer and half a Nick Hydefield. I agree. I think I'd go for it. A UG.E.E. Day.

Tonya Palmer and half of Nick Hyatt's face. But we're not in a Alonzo territory. So just to clarify, for everyone watching, we've given the race a two out of five. There are three out of five first lap, large strolls, two Danny Ricks, four crashed in Maldonanos, and yes, and overall, two and a half out of five for the race. yeah someone's made the point that if this gets full what does baccuh get i might have to make a bigger chart this is what i'll get a backu chart yes just a separate one yeah yeah okay there's your race rating guys screenshot it take a photograph and never forget thanks so those of you who hated that we're bringing it back next time you can't do anything it's coming back every single week

driver of the day harry driver of the day It's Lewis Hamilton because that's boring, but I can't give it to anyone else, to be honest. No, I could, but I think he's hard to see past him because he just smashed everyone. Sam. Yeah, well, I'll agree with Harry, but to be not totally boring.

Max Verstappen drove a brilliant race, defended well, Strathkew is executed perfectly, and he defended brilliantly from a much quicker car in the likes of Sebastian Vettel. So Hamilton, but not to be worrying, Max for Stappen. I'm going to go with Alonzo, and I personally think that those three drivers were above everyone else, really. I'd go with Alonzo, 20 seconds clear, if signs in 8th, couldn't really do anymore. Was held by the fact that he started in the ultras, but maximised his risk.

Worst driver. I think Sam's got his in mind. I think it's in mind. Guys, what's your worst driver of the day? My worst driver of the day was Sergio Perrin. But just not to be boring, I'll pick someone else so you can have a go at him. I got someone in mind anyways, it's fine. Okay, well, I'm not going to leave him alone.

Brendan Hartley had yet another terrible race. Leave him alone. He was beyond awful. Again, he's not good enough for Formula One. There. I'm just going to interrupt this. Alan on Drive-Dow said the production value for that segment appeared to match what Williams had this better. Oh my god

Alan, that's rude. It's true, but it's rude. Yeah, rude but true. Sammy, on your worst driver of the day. Well, yeah, Sergio Parais was disgusting. So, yeah, then Brendan Hartley was an absolute fool. Sorry, Harry, but he is, like they said,

not good enough for the sport. I can't believe you might have a seat next year. I can. Stop all bad norm. Where was it again? I'm glad he's not racing in McLaren. Anyway, those three, shocking. Get him out.

Harry, your go? I'm going to go for, oh, I know, Kevin Magnetton, because he was just almost as invisible as Stoffel van Don, until he did the lap record, which was only because he put new tyres on. At least he did a lap record.

Pardon? At least he did a lap record. True. It's going to be like that one that Pedro de La Rosa has at Bahrain, where it will just come up now in years to come, and you'll be like, oh yeah, that happened. Oh, yeah, remember that time. Yeah. Yeah.

Right, I think we've extended our welcome, haven't we? Yeah, let's go. Talk to these people enough. Thank you for listening to the late-breaking podcast here on Drive Tribe. My name's Ben Hocking. My name is Harry Ead. And with love, with care. I'm Samuel Sage.

Remember, keep breaking late. The podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.