The Late Braking F1 Podcast - George Russell replaces Hamilton at Mercedes! | 2020 Sakhir GP | Episode 92

Episode Date: December 2, 2020

Well, that was quite a few days of F1 news! Lewis Hamilton tests positive for COVID-19, Pietro Fittipaldi will drive in place of the injured Romain Grosjean, George Russell was announced as Hamilton's replacement and Jack Aitken took the spare seat at Williams!The boys break down all the talking points ahead of the weekend.Make sure to SUBSCRIBE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to look out for new episodes every Thursday and Grand Prix Sundays. Hello, and a very warm welcome. This is the late breaking F1 podcast. My name is Ben Hocking. Been something of a quiet week in Formula One. Not a right lot happening.

Oh, wait, no. Hang on, everything has happened. We've got a lot to discuss tonight. Fortunately, I have got the best in the business alongside me. Harry Eden, Samuel Sage. I mean, it's been a bit busy, isn't it, lads? Sorry, hold on. Before we go into any Formula One talk, two things I would like to speak about.

First is that IndyCar, the Twitter account, has just tweeted the words IndyCar. So go check that out because I've got no idea what's going on in America. Secondly, Ben, you've called us the best in the business. Are you all right today? because we all know that's not true. What I usually find is if I pay you a compliment on one in every four or five podcasts, it means I can get away with insulting you as much as I like on the others. It needs to be semi-believable, I think.

Exactly. Yes, yes, Formula One has been absolutely hectic in the last, what, 48 hours, I feel. Everything's happened. And for once, they've done it before Wednesday evening when we record our podcast. thank you, Formula One. You've finally seen that we are the entertainment and you've given us the correct information we need to make it even better. So, cheers, lads.

Yeah, I mean, thank you, thank you, F1. But could you, this is my only gripe for this, could they have, like, space things out a bit? Like, I know, I know Hamilton getting COVID is, you can't plan that, but, you know, still, come on. It was a lot. It was a lot in the space of 48 hours.

I'm exhausted again. It has been a bit ridiculous and you raise a good point, Sam. Thank you very much, Formula One, for putting this in before our podcast. Usually these announcements are left to a Thursday right after we announce. So good stuff. Good stuff. We might as well crack on with it, considering this might be the busiest show we've had in a long time. The Sequeur Grand Prix is on the horizon.

We're back in Bahrain, but a slightly different configuration of the circuit. Who might this benefit? We'll be asking that question later. later on. The race itself will have not one but two debutants. So Pietro Fittipaldi is filling in for Romang Grogon at Hasse, who, by the way, is doing very well after his crash at the weekend. And Jack Aitken is making his debut at William. So we'll be discussing both of those guys. Hasse have actually announced who will be driving for them in 2021. It will be Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher. Heavily rumoured for a while, of course, but it is now confirmed.

So our reaction on how they might fare and whether Callum Islet has been a bit hard done by. But first of all, Lewis Hamilton will not be taking part in a Formula One Grand Prix for the first time since 2006. It was announced this week that he tested positive for COVID-19. So all three of us, of course, will send him our best. But it has opened the door for George Russell to step into the Mercedes, perhaps on a one-off. Sam, what do you think is a realistic target for Russell this weekend? Top two. I mean, it still has to be top two.

George Russell has no slouch. I think he knows that if he ever gets one chance to prove himself as being a man that can do it on the occasion, he needs to at least be just behind Bostas. I think Bottas is in possibly the worst situation in Formula One that was in for a little while when you are in a possible winning car. Your main competition, the guy that is being putting you to the sword almost, it feels like, for the last few weekends, is out.

He can't race. He's going to have to sit on the sidelines and watch. And you're thinking, here we go. This is porridge time. We're going to stroll over the line. It's going to feel good. George Russell enters the chat. Hello, it's George Russell.

So Bottas now has to absolutely decimate George Russell. I'm talking kind of, you know, 20 seconds across the whole race, 20, 25 seconds, a pit stop difference. For Bottas to come away from this and look properly good. Unfortunately, I don't see that will happen. George Russell is a great driver. I think Bottas is likely to beat Russell. But I think Bottas, even if he only beats Russell by five, six seconds, says that George Russell, Russell's got in that car for the first time,

it's only five, six seconds across a whole race behind, you boss has. What's going on there? George Russell, on the other hand, I still think he should get top two. But even if he does get, you know, finish behind maybe Vastappen and finish his third, that's not a bad performance for your first time in a car.

And we saw how, you know, how many plaudits and compliments, someone like Nikola Holkenberg got in the racing point when he jumped in. And he had more points in the entire Ferrari's career in this season in one race. I think he was struggling. So Russell, I think, is going to have a lot of fun this weekend. I think he needs to finish minimum top three still, though. And I think it can reflect very badly on a lot of people if he does do well.

Alex Albaugh being another person, if it shows that you could be that close to your teammate after very little experience. So for me, Russell was going to all to gain, not too much to lose unless he absolutely bings it himself. I'm hoping he gets the top three to show that he can do it. I also think this will quieting a lot of the, it's just the car that means that there's Hamilton wins. issues. I think we're going to see that there will be a drop-off in overall speed from the whole Mercedes team. What do you reckon, Harry, where do you think Russell should be aiming this weekend? Race win, mate. Fastest lap. Pollosition, nothing else will do. I think a podium finish would be great, but I don't think, even if he didn't finish on the

point, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I think if he can show, you know, relative speed to Botas within Kuali and the race. I think that'll be classed as a good weekend. I mean, it's kind of almost the perfect storm in terms of where to have your debut for Mercedes because we're going to a track that's got approximately four breaking zones about eight, nine corners, if that. So he's not going to do too much on the lap, apart from, you know, press the throttle really hard. So that'll help. He hasn't got to learn too much of the car going around too many corners

but yeah I don't I don't think Mercedes will judge it on the final result in the race I think they'll just be looking for his pace throughout the weekend

whether it's over one lap or over a race distance in relation to Bottas and if he's in within a certain target I'm not going to name one I don't know what would be a, you know, as I say half a second, but I don't know what they'd aim for. If he's within that half second, Michael Bottas, you know,

all weekend, I think Mercedes would be pleased. But, you know, it's a, it's a huge opportunity for him. And I don't think it can go, I mean, it can go wrong, but I don't think it can go, it won't have a huge impact, even if it did go wrong. So, yeah, it's a, it's his early Christmas present, isn't it? like a really, really big, shiny Christmas present for George Russell. It certainly is.

It's not an opportunity he would have been expecting to get. I'm leaning towards where you're heading, really, Harry, in terms of, I think if he gets a top, even a top six start and a top five finish, I don't think that's a travesty. I think that's an absolutely acceptable result. That might be at the lower end of what you might want to expect. If he does get a podium, that's brilliant for him and definitely go some way to stake his claim for 2022, but I don't think it's a travesty if he does end up finishing just

outside, just off the podium. It is difficult to come in as a reserve driver. There is that experience issue that he doesn't have. Having said that, this isn't an exactly, this isn't a situation that can be completely mirrored by that of Nika Holcomberg at Racing Point because Nika Holcomberg had to come into the team pretty much from scratch. You know, he has that experience with Racing Point a few years back, but other than that, he didn't really have any prior experience whatsoever. Here, you know, George Russell has experience of the team. He is obviously a part of their program.

He has experience of the power unit that he uses at Williams. The car itself, they have a, they have a relationship with Mercedes, Mercedes and Williams do. The car itself, he's driven. So I don't necessarily think that it is going into the car, in the same way that Nika Holkenberg had to. So maybe we should, as a result, expect more, relatively speaking, compared to Holkenberg. But like I say, I think if he finishes just off the podium, it's not an awful result for him.

And he does have a little bit of, if we're going on last week's times, and of course it is a different configuration, but I don't think it will be wildly different. He will have a bit of fat in there in terms of a few ten times. of a second in qualifying as an example, we saw that only really Max Verstappen was consistently within one second of the Mercedes guys. Everyone else was one second backwards. So even if Russell is giving up temps at a time, it's still likely that that would be enough to beat a lot of the midfield drivers. So he does have a bit of an insurance policy there. I just want to say to Mercedes actually quickly, someone needs to tell Mercedes how reserved drivers,

work what they are. They have technically been with Nika Holkenberg doing three races this year, plus the race that George Russell is doing, four opportunities for their either Gutierrez or Van Dorn to do a race as a reserve driver. And they've done a collective zero. What's the point in having the reserve drivers if you're not going to use them when you need to?

I understand why they've gone for Russell, obviously. Makes complete sense considering their future and what they'd be considering. But come on. What's the point in having them? there. Regardless, that is a separate point. This is a massive opportunity for George Russell. I wish him the best. It is going to be a difficult one for him coming into that car, at least from a, you know, just from a scratch basis. He's going to, he might struggle against Valtry Bottas and I anticipate that he won't beat Valtry Bottas, but that's not even necessarily

what would constitute a good weekend for him. He's in a, he is in a great spot, George. Russell, and we've discussed this before, how he is in a great sport and how Valtry Bottas is in a horrible, horrible position. I don't envy him whatsoever, because he can't win. He can't win. Imagine a situation where Valtry Bottas claims pole by three tenths of a second, and he wins the race by five seconds. Who looks better coming out of that weekend? Probably Russell. Even if Bottas wins and takes a relatively comfortable victory. I still think there are questions floating about. It is like you said, Sam. Unless he goes out there and dominates, I don't think anyone is going to go away from the weekend being 100% content with Bottas. It's a horrible spot for him, particularly given how we know George Russell is a very good driver, even if he does have that experience deficit to Valtrey Bottas, both in terms of overall F1 experience and also Mercedes-specific experience.

and really for Mercedes, I think this will be a bit of an eye-opener for them, because we know that Lewis Hamilton is not going to be around forever. We know that Lewis Hamilton is definitely closer to the end of his career than he is to the start. How many years Lewis Hamilton goes on for remains a question. Will he go on for another three years? Will it be another five years? It's entirely possible, but we don't know at this point. And it's not even just a question of how long he will go on in Formula

one. It's also a question of how long he will go in Formula One at the level that he's displaying right now, because he's still on the top of his game. But at some point, if he doesn't retire beforehand, he will regress. When that will be, is anyone's guess again, but it's going to happen at some point. Mercedes need a plan for the future, and this is kind of an early sign of it. Hamilton's not going to be there for the first time. They need someone to step into the car. Imagine if Max Verstappen wins as an example. He wins the race. which is entirely possible. That really doesn't look good for Bottas on his claim to be the number one driver

when Lewis Hamilton steps aside because it could happen where Bottas is not old enough at the moment that he could have a few years as the Mercedes number one, age-wise, if not talent-wise, that one's more up for debate. Yeah, and Max Verstappen and Shao LaClair are very clearly in the futures of Red Bull and Ferrari respectively as their guy. George Russell is beginning to tread. water in Williams. This would be an example where George Russell can go in Mercedes and show what he can do

and also show what might happen if they keep George Russell's development back enough that he's in Williams for a third season or a fourth season as an example. You know, it's difficult, but yeah, I think this might be an eye opener for Mercedes. I mean, just to finish up on Baldry Bottas as well, because both myself and Sam have kind of had our say on Bottas and what he might need to achieve. Harry, do you think that there's any way Bottas comes out of this weekend looking better than what he's going in?

Yeah, I mean, Bottas, he just wants season to be over. And he was like, you know, finally, another day. stuff racing Bahrain. There's only two left. I'm out of there, lads. And then Lewis goes and gets COVID. And he's like, oh, Lewis, mate, what are you doing? What are you doing to me?

It's not enough to beat me on the track. You've got to then give me another beating by then getting a reserve driver in to make me look bad. Yeah, I mean, Bottas needs to win, like, he used to dominate. He needs to dominate qualifying. He needs to dominate the race. You know, if Russell comes. second, Botas needs to beat him by a big margin, like 30 seconds or something like that.

You know, and I guess there'll be other factors. I guess, you know, if we have a safety car and Brussels is in second and Bottas is in first, the gap might be smaller, but it needs to be, you know, a convincing gap at some point during the race and in quality as well. I think it needs to be, like I said, that kind of half second needs to be overback. I think if Bottas wants to come out of it looking good. Yeah, I just feel for the guy. He just wanted to go home.

He wants to go back to Monaco, and now he's going to be like, he's got to try this weekend. He probably doesn't want him to be anyway. How he's got to try. Can I also just collaborate on my album point before I'm Lynch? Sure. Obviously, in my previous spiel,

I said that this could look bad for album, and some people might be a little bit confused as to what I meant by that, so I didn't go to too much detail. Obviously, we've said the whole way throughout, Now, basically the last 18 months, Albin's been with Verstappan as a teammate at Red Bull, that Albaugh doesn't need to beat the Stappan.

We've said this so many times. His objective is not to be the leader of that team. He's meant to be the second driver, the backup, the support. And we have said time after time, after time. In the same machinery, in qualifying, you should probably be two to three tents and the next position behind your teammate in qualifying,

which Alvin regularly struggles to do. You know, not often have they been third and fourth in qualifying. Bahrain was really an exception to the ruling, then the gap was still large between the two of them. And then in racing again, we've said multiple times that album realistically needs to be finishing maybe six, seven seconds behind the Stapham

and needs to be there to support him so they can take the strategy to Mercedes. Now, the issue here is that if Russell turns up in a car that he's only driven a couple of times in terms of practice or, you know, like filming days and whatnot, and he is able to stick behind Bottas and qualify next to him and then finish the race within five, six, seven seconds on his first race out there,

it shows you what a newcomer driver essentially to a team is able to do against a seasoned race winner. You know, he's led races, he's qualified on pole many times. Botas is no slouch. Bottas has some bad races. He's bad, some bad luck. He's had some bad races. But he's no slouch. And I think you take Lewis Hamilton out of that car.

And realistically, Bottas is the man that wins the championship. So if Russell was able to turn up and be within seven, eight seconds of Bossass through the whole race, and looks great on Russell. It doesn't look great at Bottas, but it looks great on a guy that's able to turn up as a rookie, essentially, a new team, and deploy a race result that you would go, wow, great stuff. That's what you need for a second driver at the moment, which Russell would be to Bottas currently. And if you're able to do that, an album still isn't after 18 months of being in that car, learning that car, developing the team, developing his skills, understanding how the car works and drives and changes,

That's why I think the album then gets looked at in a negative manner. I just don't want people to think that I was literally coming for Alex Album then. But yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's fair enough. So just confirmation there that Sam does hate Alex Almond. Agreed. Yep. I don't.

I don't. I don't. I don't. Of course, yeah, the thing we've mentioned already is that the circuit is going to be a slightly different configuration to what we saw. Last time out. Harry, how do you think this might impact the race? Do you think that some of the teams that didn't quite do so well last time might be a bit further up in terms of performance and vice versa? Well, I mean, Ferrari are going to be even further down than they were last time. I think that's a given. I think all Ferrari powered cars are going to struggle. Would it benefit anyone else? The Renault that's pretty slippery in a straight line. They didn't have a minister to score points, but they didn't have a great race in comparison to. to McLaren last time.

You know, I'd say racing point, but they were on for a good result anyway, but they were kind of unlucky there. But that benefit, they got the Mercedes-P-U. It might alter the midfield a tiny bit, but to be honest, I think it's going to be absolute carnage, so it could be a completely random result.

And it's pretty open going into the weekend as well with no Lewis Hamilton. What a weird thing that is. Yeah, we were saying earlier on how Lewis Hamilton not being a part of Formula One Grand Prix for the first time since 2006, which means the last time that was the case, both myself and Harry were in primary school, and Sam was just getting his OAP bus pass. Yeah. Which is fantastic. I love free transport. Thank God.

I wait 65 years for that. Do you know, we've been friends for what, like seven years now? And the making fun of Sam being a year older than us, it just doesn't get old. Like him. Yeah, for the record, he's like 15, 16 months older, not 16 years, as you'd think. Quite, yeah. You easily put us all in the same age group, immediately looking at us. We look no different.

I do look no older. I behave the youngest by far. But yes, regularly seeing as a 93-year-old veteran of life. Anyway, slight detour on that. Sam, how do you think that the different configuration might suit certain teams? There's only one corner in Setter 3. This is true. It's the last corner.

Apparently that is two corgars, which is a lie. That is baloney. So it's one call. Set to three is one corner. It's baffling me. Sorry, this whole concept that we're not on an oval, but I get what they're wrong about. it needs to be round for it to be horrible. But there's what,

nine corners, the fact that they haven't rammed it up with the three DRS zones actually surprised me. But this definitely suits Mercedes and Renault. Honda are improving, Ferrari are nowhere engaging power. Renaud are doing so well at power tracks and McLaren,

hello, fourth and fifth last time out, last week. The guys are doing a brilliant job. Norris and science are on such great form as a team. Performance, up to form that's churned in, the points are running, and now third in the Constructors' Championship as well. It's all looking good for Renault-powered cars. We've seen that Ricardo, if you didn't get stuck behind Ockong as well,

might have progressed up the field a lot further last week out. So I think that the Renault power teams are going to be surprisingly strong when it is just constantly flat out. Mercedes, obviously, I think we'll do well. I think we might see some DNS and failures because of the constant use of top-end speed on these engines. So I think Mercedes are still going to be the overall favourites. I wouldn't be shocked if we see McLaren and Ren are really up there with the Red Bull guys

fighting over kind of the second row of the grid. Maybe a front row start for someone new, because if Russell can't get to grips with the car that easy, he does qualify maybe fifth or sixth, then that opens the door for maybe a Norris or a Ricardo to just stick it on to second place. You'd assume that Vastappen with his core talent looks strong for it. But I think that the engine power around here is going to be really, really, really potent. And then I do have the extra legs. So keep your eyes peeled. I do think there might be a big of a mix-up.

Yeah, I personally don't think the differences are going to be as big as anticipated here. I think that the order will stay pretty much the same. Sector 1 and sector 3 are essentially the same as what we would normally see on the normal Bahrain circuit. It's only really the middle sector that's changing. And even on the normal middle sector, whilst you do have a couple of slow corners as you go through the middle sector normally, you still do have one big straight in the normal middle sector. So I don't actually think it will change too much. I think there will be a slight advantage for those who've got a power unit advantage here. So McLaren looked strong last time, so they should be even stronger again out there.

Renno, who looked fairly strong in qualifying but didn't quite have the race pace, perhaps they get a bit closer. Perez, as long as he doesn't have another issue, he should be there or thereabouts as well and stroll as well. If he doesn't get flipped over so the car's the wrong way around, he might be all right as well. But like you say, Ferrari, they are likely to go even further back, which, I mean, they didn't have much of a starting place anyway. they were the sick fastest team going into, sorry,

I think the seventh fastest team, I should say, going into the race on the Sunday. And, you know, Leclair managed to snatch a point through, well, pure luck, really, with the Perez incident happening. But you'd be surprised if they're going to be any more competitive this timeout, just on how poor that power unit is. Very ironic considering what position we were in about a year ago. So, yeah, I don't think.

think either of those guys are going to be going to be all that competitive. The ironic thing is, if Ferrari are not doing very well again and Hasse have got a new driver in their car, I don't think Alpha Romeo will be very competitive. The ironic thing about George Russell moving up to Mercedes, this could be the best chance for a Williams point we've had all year. I told you earlier, it's going to be aching. It's going to be aching. It's going to have it. No, it's not. King, the Tiefie's coming through. I mean, George Russell, he finished 12th last week, and he beat a lot of the guys that are usually in and around him.

So if there's a bit of carnage, theoretically, Russell would have been in a very similar spot this weekend. And who knows, maybe Latifia or Aiken will be in that spot and claim a point for the team. But, yeah, they might find themselves at the head of that pack Williams compared to where they usually are, which is just behind them. So I think the wild card as well, just to say, might be Alpha Tauri here because

Gansley looked very strong in practice throughout last weekends, Bahrain Grand Prix. And he had a very good result as well, obviously. He scored a number of points. But he was going for a different strategy compared to everyone else. So we never really got an opportunity

to see his overall pace with the McLaren's and the Renault. I think he'd be about there. But, yeah, like I say, he was on a different strategy, so he didn't have that exact sort of comparative points. So I'm interested to see what they might do and whether Kaviyat can do any better.

Theoretically, considering what happened at the weekend, don't think Kaviat can do worse. Not to say that, not just to clarify, not saying that the incident of Grosal was his fault, obviously. But he just had a nightmare, didn't he? Yes, absolute Tony Blair. Complete stinker. He did.

He did. I think that he's come under some really unfair criticism for it as well. So I'm really hoping that he gets a proper good result this weekend, the kind of, you know, to his critics out there, wink, wink, maybe that will shut them up if you could put out some great points. Yeah, I think he could well be better then. I just thought Bottas might want to talk to his critics again when he beats Russell. This is true, this is true.

To whom it may concern. To whom it may concern, I'm the new Lewis Hamilton, guaranteed team radio after the race. Let's go on to bold predictions. I mean, I'm not even sure of any. prediction is bold this weekend, but we're going to give it a go regardless. Sam, what have you got? Oh, after what I just said?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but both Williams cars are going to score points. Both Williams cars are going to score points. You heard it here first, and the only time you'll hear it as well, probably. Jack Hakeetkin, mate, you better like me because that, oh, if you score points and Russell has gone that long without Inga Williams, then, geez, but I think it's going to happen. I think this track is the one, just a big long line. I think he's finally getting a suit the Williams thing. Can you imagine if Aitken scores a point?

And for other reason, Russell doesn't finish the race. Yeah, imagine that. Imagine if Latifie takes out Russell when he's being lapped. And Aitken is the one that picks up the place. And they decide that they should actually put Aitken in the car next year and Russell has to take a year out. Sorry, George. Where's this gone? Move on. Sorry, George.

Anyway, so bold prediction from Zan. is that both Williams cars will score points this weekend. Harry, what have you got to compete with that? My bold prediction is that because we are at a circuit that is just basically flat out for most of the time, only a few breaking zones, so we're going to have five P.U. Tower unit failures.

Not saying which ones. Nope, that's bold enough by itself. P.U. I know. Stinky. Stinky prediction from Harry Ead, five power units saying no, no, no, and going out. Okay. No, no. They will actually all say that, the power unit themselves.

That's the noise the cars make next year, isn't it? They drive it when they're turned on? Yep, it's true. It's all true. You only get bare facts here on the Lake Breaking F1 podcast. My bold prediction. Is that facts about bears? Exactly, yeah.

The grizzly bear? No, not going into that. So my bold prediction, you'll remember last time out. Or you might remember if you were listening. Hopefully you were. My bold prediction last time out was that Nicholas Latifie would escape Q1 and qualify 14th or higher in Q2. You might also remember that that didn't quite happen.

Nicholas Latifie decided, you know what? I'd like to do well, but I'd like even more for Ben not to get his bold prediction right. So I'm going to finish, I'm going to start last. Nicholas Latifie, as a result of this, I'm going against you this week. I think that Jack Aitken will out-qualify Nicholas Latifie. Are you sure? Yeah, I think that might be more bold than me, saying that two willing to be in the points. Latifie, you have wronged me, sir.

It's the worst vendetta. ever seen. Latifie versus Ben is the fight everyone wants to see. So underwhelming through fear. Like you're seeing Ben, just stay outside your house being like, I'm here for the vendetta.

You were like, in those trainers? You mean the Benetta? He's brought it out. You deserve that. I've got nothing against Nicholas Latifi. Of course, but that's my bold prediction. Pole 1, 2, 3. Harry, what have you got?

Paul is going to be porridge man himself because he doesn't even need a version up for this one. He can be the same as last week. And then the win is going to go to Porridge Man as well. And then second place is going to be, and the third place is going to be Sergio Perez. No, you can't do Sergio Perez again. It worked once, but it was never designed to work for us.

Last time. So close last time. But, you know, I think he's on great form. And I think, yeah, without an age of Harry, he was obviously going to get the podium. So, yeah, come on, Checo. That's fair enough. What do you reckon, Sam? I think that porridge cake, King Man with the best moustache botas, that is his now official.

That is his full title if you were to Wikipedia in. is going to be on poll and I think that Verstappan is going to win the race I think Bottas will be second and I think Carlos Sikes will be third Oh, nice.

Tasty. It's actually not that dissimilar to what I've got. I've gone for porridge boss version 1.0 as you say, Harry, doesn't need to level up this week but he'll still claim pole position but I think he'll claim the win as well. I've got Bottas first, Vastappan's second place, and I've also got Carlos Sines finishing third.

We had a good race last time up. When Bottas does level up, is it like in Mario where you pick up the bubble and it allows your car to grow about 30 times and you do that, ho-ho-ho-ho-ho noise. That sounds more like Tigger than Mario, but anyway. And they did to do that star, like, den-tigger-dick-d-diggas.

Song that plays in Mario as he just bumping through everyone. Is that what happened? In qualifying, when they turn the engines up, he turns into that massive bullet thing. It's not a bullet. Bullet Bottas. I mean, of all people who would sound like an amalgamation of Tigger and Mario, Valfrey Bottas is not at the top of the list. Can't imagine. Mario.

Well, with that, we're moving on. We're moving on to Hass, because there were heavy rumours that their line up for 2021 would be Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher. These rumours are now confirmed to be true. So Haskoing with an all-rooky line-up next year after four years of Kevin Magnuson and Roman Grojean. Sam, plenty of options for them. What do you make of their decision and how they'll get on? Mick Schumacher 100% agree with the guys leading the title. He has done a brilliant job in terms of that overall consistency. Maybe he got winging races all the time when maybe he should have done, but you're at the top for a reason.

and the guys do what he needs to do. And I think for marketing reasons, it's a fantastic, you know, guy to put in the car. And from a personal reason, the fact that we're going to be able to see the name Schumacher on a Formula One career again is a little bit of emotion. But I'm going to try and separate him from his dad

because he deserves his own career, his own achievement. So very excited, think he's capable, looking forward to see what he does. And the other seat, on the other hand, Nikita Mazepin is a controversial gentleman. For those that are maybe new to the junior formulas, or for those that don't watch the junior formulas, they just play a section of Formula One, which is totally understandable. She don't have a lot of time.

You just fight the big guns. Mazaping has been going to do a few things. He's assaulted, Kalamilat. After Aylaught blocked Mazaping in practice. Ilock being the other person, of course, it was up for selection out of those junior drivers. He's thrown a position board at Yuki Singoda. There are many accusations flying around the Twitter sphere of Formula One that certain people have received certain things from Mazurpin without consent.

And recently, he Instagram posting, Happy Birthday to the guy that ate a batting China, were his exact words. Hashtag happy birthday COVID. As you can see, maybe slightly irresponsible. But he's a young guy. Hopefully he grows out of that behaviour. comes a mature and responsible young man

and we see something brilliant from him. But do I think he actually deserves that half seat? No, I don't. I think Cana Milot deserves that hard seat. I think he should at least get a year. The guy is the closest to winning the title other than Schemacher. One good race for the junior

guys this time out in Sekear and he wins the title if Schumacher has a big of a bad one. I'm pretty gutted that Eilot is going to be going off somewhere where I really do think he deserves that seat over Mazdaping. I think Mazdaping has time to develop. I think Mazdaping has the financial capability to go anywhere he wants to. I think his father is, what, a rushing oligarch worth several billions of pounds.

The guy could do whatever he wants in the long run. And Isot has not had that backing in the same manner. I think Islott, you know, he has just performed better across the whole season. So I'm a bit gutted, but let's hope that Mazapin can grow up a bit, turn out some good performances and really earn that spot. And there's got a few games further back, but the likes of Schwartzman could definitely do another season in F2. It'll probably win it next season.

And we'll see him in Formula One very soon. But for me, if you're not going to pick Perez in that second seat, that was your chance to have Sergio Perez and Mick Schumacher in there. That will be my ideal line-up. It's a shame. It is a shame. So I think there's a few games that should go front of Mazepin. I do think Schumacher should have been the rookie.

What do you reckon, Harry, about what they've put together, here. It's been a while since we've seen an all-rooky lineup. Yeah, it has actually. Ben, do you know when the last one was? I know. I'm trying to think, but it's probably an awful team from like the 2010-2012 region, but I can hear Sam Googling as we speak. I am. I'm literally Googling it.

Yeah, so agree with Sam. You know, Schumacher is, you know, the name is obviously big, but he is there on merit. He's driven sounds right really consistently this year. And that's why he's leading the challenge. It may not have been as quick on occasions as other drivers,

but he's not really been involved in many, if at all, incidents. I think he had a collision with his teammate at Silverstone, but apart from that, I can't think of any else this year. Yeah, so he's been pretty consistent. And, yeah, from a marketing point of view, having Schumacher on your team is big. Mazepin, you know, controversial personality aside, he is obviously third in the championship

but that is behind Kalamilat who you know if you're going to have two rookies I'd have put I lot and Chamacrin and I get there's a money element involved there you know before I had a quick goul of his stats before this year and he did the F3 Asian

championship before this and he did Formula 2 before that so before that and GP3 in 2018 he's done he's been being rubbish. Like 18th and F2 the first time he did it. He was second and GP3, to be fair. Then Formula 3, he was 10th.

British Formula 3 is 23rd. So you go all the way back, and he's not even got top 10 from there on in. So, yeah, he's not had the best record as a junior driver, but, you know, time will tell. I agree with Sam. They should have, you know, we've been begging half to change their lineup for ages,

and they did it, and now they've gone completely the opposite direction and gone for a pretty risky line-up now. So they've got two rookies. You'd have put Perez in your car any day. A Perez Schumacher line-ups, for sure. But yeah, I feel for Kalamar-Lot, like, he's been good this year. He has made mistakes, as we saw the weekend as well.

But he deserves a driving F-1. But, you know, if you're basing it off this year, as they've done with Schumacher, I think they were going to do a rookie lineup, it should have been Ayloat on Schumacher. But, yeah, hopefully I-Lock finds another way. way in, but it'll be difficult. I can't find anywhere the last rookie lineup.

My instinct would be it would be maybe Verline and Harry Anto, unless one of the manor lineups before that. Well, no. Yeah, maybe that's it. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

Anyway, Harry, I completely agree with everything you said. What about Chilton and Bianchi? I guess that would be going a bit further back again, though. Oh, yeah, that's true. That's what they were before. Yeah. Anyway.

So. Harry Ante had made onto two podcasts in a row, I think, then. Oh, the streak should keep going. He's a legend. Best driver from Indonesia. Yeah. Anyway. Oh, yeah.

The best and only. The thing is with what Hasse are doing here, and you're right, we have said for quite a few years that Huss might need to change something up. Taking the actual drivers out of the equation, so actually taking Schumacher and Mazpin out of it, just for a second and focusing on Hass making the decision to replace their two drivers with two rookies. If you're going to do that, and if you're going to do a two driver switch, which like we said, it hasn't happened on a long time, now is the best time to do it. You would much rather do it at the end of this season than do it at the end of next season, because it's going to be much more important to get 2022 right than it is going to be for 2021.

Hasse are in a pretty bad position at the moment, and likelihood is not a lot is going to change next year. They are more than likely going to be battling it out with Alpha Romeo and Williams for the bottom three spots. With so little changing in terms of regulations, it's unrealistic to think that it's going to be a situation, anything distant from that. In which case, you might as well roll the dice now. You might as well give whoever your rookie is the experience of 2020. for then 2022 new regulations come in fresh. They've got a bit of experience under their belt, and they're more ready to hit the ground running with a car that might be good enough

to compete in the midfield again, which considering what has, maybe that will happen. But you don't even get that opportunity if you're making this decision a year late. So I completely understand why they've made that decision now. I'm a bit surprised that they've gone down this route. I mean, not surprised in that we've known this was. probably going to be the lineup for a little while. But if you'd have asked me at the beginning of the season,

how I thought they might go about it, I would have presumed that they would have either kept one driver and brought in one rookie, something like a Magnuson and Schumacher combination, or they would have gone for an experienced new driver plus a rookie Perez and Schumacher. I'm surprised that they've gone down the route of two completely brand new drivers, but so be it.

Now to focus on the drivers themselves. Mick Schumacher, and I've always said if you win the Formula 2 Championship, obviously we don't know if that's going to happen yet, you do deserve a shot in Formula 1. Schumacher's had a pretty good year. There are concerns for me when it comes to Schumacher and his overall potential. I don't think he is an A-grade potential guy.

I don't think he's a Shaul-A-Claire. I don't think he's a George Russell, Alando Norris. I don't think he's going to be at that level. or at least I don't think he has the potential to get to that A-A-plus level. I think he has more potential to be in the next group of drivers and who that contains is up for discussion. But I think the likes of Ocon, the likes of Albon, Gazzley maybe,

I think he will eventually end up in that group of drivers rather than the elite. We have seen that he has taken time to adjust to series. That's definitely happened in European Formula 3. A bit of controversy as to how that happened. but nothing was ever proven. So we'll say that that was on merit alone. The same thing has happened in Formula 2. Didn't have a great first year,

had a much better second year. So it does seem as if he takes a little while to adjust. And I don't think he's a great qualifying guy either. He's much better in terms of his racecraft than he is in qualifying, which could well be taken from his dad. But yeah, I don't think he's a fantastic qualifier. Having said that, he definitely does have potential

to be at least a good Formula One driver in that he gets great starts and yeah, his racecraft is solid. He might well be the next Lance Stroll in that respect. But if anything, I would say his potential is a little bit higher than Lance Stroll, albeit not that much higher. I do think he's a prospect.

I do think he deserves a spot in Formula One. And I think of all the rookies, he's had that consistency this year. I can't remember many times where he's been outside of that top eight. So I think he deserves a shot in Formula One. Glad to see that he's got it. Now moving on to Nikita Mazepin.

Character issues. Character issues is probably the one blanket term for this. Sam went into them a lot more deeper than that. But yeah, I am concerned in that respect that he is not ready mentally for Formula One because it is a tough world. And I'm not sure if he has the maturity for it, which would be a shame.

And I say it's a shame because I do actually think he has a lot of potential to be as good as Schumacher, maybe slightly behind, but not all that much behind. I don't think he should be labeled just as a pay driver. If you were listening to some people, you would think that Nikita Mazepin has the ability of Yuji Eday, which is completely unfair. He is a good driver, and he's shown that this year, and he showed that in that GP3 season that you referenced as well, Harry. he didn't have a very good start to his junior career. Some of those results in his earlier years are a bit shocking.

But he has come on leaps and mound in the last few years. So like Michael Schumacher, like Mike Schumacher, I don't think he is a fantastic prospect, but I do think he has the ability to carve out a reasonable career in Formula One. And just to say, because I do think people are, and like to say, there are character issues, but to focus on the racing and just the racing for a moment. I do think that people are being unfair towards Mazapin in comparison to Kalamilat.

If you gave me the choice between the two, I'd take Kalamilat, but I don't think it's as wider gap as people are making it out to be. Bear in mind that in GP3, when Mazapin finished second behind Antoine Ubert, Kalamilat finished third of that year, and they were in the same car. Nikita Mazepin won. And this season, there is literally one place separating them. Yes, there is a bit more of a points gap. Yes, Isla has had the better season.

But it hasn't been by that much. You can't be a bad Formula 2 driver and finish third. It doesn't work. The guy's got talent. Yes, the guy's got money as well. I'm sure that's helped him in his case against Kalamila. But I would not rule him out as someone who could forge out a solid career in the sport. And just to say, as well, with Hass, they might not even be existing right now if it weren't for Mr. Mazapin's money.

So they might not have had much of a choice in terms of taking it. But interest to see what they do. It will be a very intriguing battle between the two of them and who comes out on top next year. And let's move on then to our final topic of the day. So as we referenced earlier, we have got two debutants in a Formula One Grand Prix. Fun fact, courtesy of Sean Kelly, of course, virtual stat man. First time since the Italian Grand Prix in 2001, where two. Two drivers have made their debut outside of the first race of the season.

I thought that was quite interesting. Who were the drivers? I don't know who the drivers were, though. Oh, what is the point you're having a stat, man? I swear to God. Good a goal. I'm on it. What's his name? Thomas Enche was one of them, the Czech guy. It's working a bank.

Yeah. Sorry, so bad. I honestly can't remember who the other one was. Maybe Alex Jung. The goat, Alex Jung. He'd have been around that time. Alex Young, he was there. What a guy.

Was he not already there? Thomas Eng, yeah. I think you've nailed that, Ben. Oh, wow. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Anyway, the two drivers that are making their debuts this weekend. You've got Pietro Fitzapaldi racing for Hass. in place of Roman Grosjean. You've got Jack Aitken racing for Williams in place of George Russell.

Sam, focusing on Jack Aitken first. How do you think he'll get on? Well, if you've watched the, yeah, if you've watched the full, listening to the full podcast and whatnot, you'll know that I think he's going to get points. I think he will get points margin of the fact there'll be a lot of D&Fs, as How he's alluded to. And we know how reliable that Mercedes-Engaging often is. the Williams is often quite reliable as well in terms of across the field it does well to finish races is usually driver error

that causes that to not be the case so I'm hoping Jack Aitkin continues in that front again hence the bold prediction I don't think he'll beat Latifi I don't think he'll beat Latifi in qualifying he's one of those drivers that is very much loved especially in F2 and I must admit

I do think there are drivers who are slightly more deserving to fill that seat when it became available for a race. Jack 8 King has not been anything remarkable in F2 this season. It's all right. I don't think he really deserves to be the first person to get called up. But hey, when he's using reserve drivers, how reserve drivers should be used.

And he was there. He's their reserve driver, so he gets to see. I don't think he's got a long-term career in Formula One, and I do fear that this may prove that the case, unfortunately. He's a good driver. I think he'll do all right. I don't think he'll wow anyone. I don't think the socks are going to come off for him.

But I hope he has a good race. I do hope he scores points. That'll be amazing on the debut, right? I really think that would be quite cool. So, Harry, I imagine you are devastated that Goat Nassani has been looked over on this one. But looking outside of that bias, do you think Aiken will do all right? Yeah, I mean, obviously, Nassani, Cawley have looked and Dick Richard. You must also be

gutted. I mean, Williams have got reserve drivers come out of there is. They've got so many. Yeah, I think,

yeah, I agree with Sam. Aiken is a solid driver. I think he has been unlucky this season, although he has had some poor races from himself.

But, yeah, I think just, he's a solid driver. I think he'll just do a solid job all we I don't think he'll beat Latifi.

And if he does beat Latifi, Latifi is going to have to have a long, hard look in his Canadian mirror and say, what are you doing here, mate? Are they different single mirrors? Yeah, they're frozen because it's always snowing. Yeah, so I think I'll do a fine job. I don't think this is a, well, is it make or break? I don't think he's going to be signed for Williams next year if he does a fantastic job,

because Russell's going to be in that seat. You know, it could do his stock as a racing driver good, but I don't think he's going to change anything massively for him. Yeah, I think in this position, and Aitken does have that advantage where he is the reserve driver, that is a benefit, because unlike the situation where Hulkenberg was involved, he does have experience of the car. He's actually driven of a practice session earlier on in the year.

No pressure on him, but... They might fancy getting a point. And this is what we discussed earlier on, is that he doesn't have the Ferrari power unit, which is a big plus for this circuit. George Russell beat the guys around him last week. He might fancy it. It's a new track.

Could be carnage. No one's got an experience of that configuration. Maybe he pulls something out of the bag. He does go in with, of course, lower expectations. always think it's a pretty good spot to be in where you don't have too much pressure on your shoulders. How well he does. I mean, I've obviously got him out qualifying Latifie as my bold prediction because Latifie let me down last week. Not letting you forget that either, Nicholas. But yeah,

I don't think this will do any bearings in terms of his future in Formula One. I don't think he has one, unfortunately. And yeah, I think there are more impressive drivers in Formula 2. But good luck to him. I hope everything goes well for him. And what about the other driver then? So Pietro Fittipaldi is replacing Roman Grogon at Hasse. How do you think he might get on, Sam? I think he's a little bit more of an unknown kind of quantity in racing at the moment. He's a bit younger than 8. King.

He's had a little bit less experience in the junior formulas. The guy obviously comes from a very talented background. Some bloke called Emerson, I think. Got punted by Kimmy Broadbent once. That's what Emerson Fitzapaldy is best known for. I think so. Anyway, we move on. You know, that horse is a dog.

That horse is not a good car. He's going to have a tough time. I think he's got the Ferrari engine, as Ben rightfully said, Williams does not have and will be better off for it in the long run. If he can keep up with Magnuson, maybe even beat Magnuson, who knows, you know, if he can just hold on and have a good few scores, scraps, I think it will bear him well. But again, unfortunately, I think it's unlikely we see him

in Formula One in the next couple of years anyway. There's such a line-up of talent that is related to the Ferrari family in front of him that I think are more ready and more raring to go. That again, I don't think this will kind of change anything for him. If he has a good race, great. I think a few people will be aware of him. We'll follow his career. But I don't think this opens the door immediately to an F1 seat. But on the other hand, I also don't think he can really mess things up unless he absolutely bings it unless he takes someone out badly. I really don't think this could be too damaging for him. It's all good experience.

It's all eye-opening. And you never know. Someone might just notice him a bit more and go, ah, I like what I see. And something can happen. But again, I don't think this is going to be absolutely wow worthy. And I don't think he's going to be making headlines unless something bizarre happens. So best luck to him.

I hope it goes well, but I'm not expecting anything dramatic. Do you expect Fetipaldi to win the race, Harry? yeah why not uh no i don't think it'll win the race um thanks for clarifying you know you know there'll be someone going yeah but you've said botas will win the race it's so true yeah i i think you know ben you mentioned the pressure that on achin at the chance of a william's chance of a point i think it's kind of the opposite for fitzbole in that i don't think huss will be expecting much they were mann was last last weekend. I think the last thing

will be even more last this weekend quite possibly. So, you know, at Fitzbole, he just has to keep his nose out of trouble. Yeah, it's just good experience for him. And, yeah, I think keeping it clean is, as it is for Aiken as well, obviously, but

keeping it clean, it will be key. And, you know, if there is carnage, which I'm hoping slash have expecting, he might salvage something else of it. But yeah, I'm sure he'll be fine. I think for a 24-year-old racing driver, Pietro Fittipaldi is ridiculously well-travelled.

He has pretty much done everything in racing by the age of 24. He's done, he's done NASCAR, he's done Indy car, he's done Formula 3, he's done DTM, he's done the F3 Asian champion. He's just done everything at 24 years old. Unfortunately, he isn't really done well in any of them either. I think his versatility in this respect actually means he's a decent call here, and I don't think he'll embarrass himself at all. He's clearly had a career where he's had to adjust to new cars at a moment's notice.

So I don't think that will be as much of a challenge for him as it might be for someone else who came into the role instead of him. Yeah, to be quite honest, I don't think Fittipaldi is at a Formula One level. His last win came in 2016, so it's been a non-year-old. number of years since he won a race. And even then, that was in the MRF challenge, which is not, in terms of ability, isn't the best championship in the world. He's never really shown anything that implies that he's got Formula One potential

about him. So I don't expect a great deal. I think Magderson will beat him quite comfortably here. But as he said, Harry, I don't think he's not coming in with the expectation of someone like George Russell, where he's got a car that could get points. the has, it's going to have to be a ridiculous race if Hasse are in a position to score points. So, yeah, I think no pressure on his shoulders. I don't think it'll embarrass himself and he can just go out there and join himself, really.

Well, that is Formula One this week. I can't believe we managed to get through it all. There's been so much that's happening. But we will be back, of course, on Sunday for our review of the Secure Grand Prix. Sam, until that point, if you wouldn't mind, getting sound of it. This race is going to be a bit crazy. And I hope everyone who is listening to the podcast goes out there and has an absolute blast this weekend.

Last quarter of the season, it's all to play for. Elmo's out. Let's have some jolly old fun. Chat to us over the weekend on Twitter at Elbreaking. Let us know what you think about everything you said here. What's going on the race? And of course, join us for the race review, which is going to be coming up on Sunday afternoon slash evening

because, you know, time is fun. Anyway, in the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hawking. I've been Alex Young. And remember, keep breaking late. The cast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.