The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Grosjean walks away from horrific incident | 2020 Bahrain GP Review | Episode 91

Episode Date: November 29, 2020

The boys discuss what happened in the Grosjean incident at the Bahrain Grand Prix and how brilliant the safety teams were to assist. 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's Ben Hocking. Today in Formula One we witnessed an astonishing crash, unlike anything we've seen in the sport for a long, long time.

The contact itself was astonishing. the response from the medical crew, astonishing, and the fact that Roman Grogon has walked away with his life, again, astonishing. People are calling it a miracle that Grojan is still with us, and understandably so, but I'm of the opinion that putting it down

to just a miracle, and nothing else does a disservice to those who have advanced safety to the point where this outcome is even possible in the first place. And with this in mind, everything that's happened today, I'd like to start the podcast by just saying,

you. Thank you to anyone and everyone who has put a, who has had a part to play in bringing safety to this point. To those who started the process decades ago, we say thank you to you. To those who continued the discussion despite fall out from sponsors and circuits, we say thank you to you as well. To those who designed the Halo safety device and to those who helped implement it, again, thank you to you. Dr. Ian Roberts, Alan van der Merva, we say thank you for your service out there today. And to every single marshal from across the globe, thank you as well. Safety will forever be a process that does not have a finishing line, but there is always more that can be done.

And it's important that we learn from this, but for now, all we can do is express our gratitude to these people and to be thankful that Roman Grogon can still be with us and he can still be with his wife and children. A warm welcome to Harry Ede and Sam Sage, an afternoon that was pretty much like no other guys. Oh, my good Lord. Talk about moments that you watch, that you experience.

It's strange. I didn't really understand what I was feeling watching it. And, of course, above all now is relief and gratitude that we watch Roman Grosjean somehow have the ability to unbuckle himself from that car and jump over that fence at rail with possible broken ribs, burnt feet, burnt hands. it was spectacular in a way that Formula One shouldn't be. But, I mean, thankfully, the befitting named Halo came to the rescue, really, didn't it? For those that have slanded the technical advances that we've had and the look of that halo, that has undoubtedly saved a man's life today.

That is the kind of the cherry on top that made sure that he was going to make it through that barrier and still be okay. The fact that they show images of that Moracock, that, you know, what they call like, was it, the crash cell, the safety cell of the Formula One car afterwards. And the back end is ripped off from six feet away. The front wing is obliterated, but there, where Grogion is sitting, the seat, the cockpit, the halo is in one solid piece. And it's actually just the impact itself that's possibly broken Grogon's ribs. And the fact that he is going to be able to speak to his wife and his children after, what was one of the most

shocking impacts I've ever seen in Formula One is just wonderful. I would not be shocked. I would not blame him if he calls up Haas in a couple of days' time and goes, that's it. Thank you. I've had me fun. I was only two races away anyway, but I'm all right now. I'll leave it there because what a hero, what a hero everyone involved was, it was brilliant to see Formula One come together.

We do race as one, which is nice to see. His life is, it's amazing. It was absolutely incredible to see that he got out of their life. flabbergasted quite emotional. I went through a peer where I was quite emotional after all that. Yeah, I mean, stunned. Instead of it stunned now that he walked out of it and there are so many factors within that crash, you know, so many different things that could have, A, seriously harmed him

more than he was, you know, he's only got some minor injuries, thankfully, and B, that could have killed him yet. And yet, you know, he's had neither of those things. happened to him, thank God. Yeah, just so peculiar, strange, extraordinary, spectacular as Sam said, in the wrong way.

Yeah, just grateful that old Romi G as we like to call him, did walk away from it. And yeah, Sam, I'm totally with you. If I would, I don't think anyone would begrudge Roman at all if he this week phoned up Gunther and was like, you know what, I'm done here.

I've not going to do that again. Yeah, I don't think anyone would blame them at all. And yeah, and just, you know, thank you to all the medical teams that are on, you know, the medical car that got there, you know, within seconds. That's what it's there for, for bloody Dr. Ian Roberts to running towards a fire. Like how many people do that, not many? And then obviously all the work that's done over the years for the people that are, you know, you know, Sid Watkins, Jackie Stewart, Charlie Whiting, etc.

or the people that've done that work over the years to make F1 safer because, you know, even, you know, pre-2018, if that had been a 2017 car with no halo, I think maybe Grudgeon won't be here. So, yeah, thank you to all of them. Yeah, yeah. And, yeah, it's slightly ironic, actually, because I was listening to the Beyond the Grid podcast a few days ago, and it was Yocan Mass, who was the guest. Yucumas won a Grand Prix in the 1970s, raced in the 70s and 80s.

And he had a pretty similar, the incident itself wasn't similar, but he had a pretty similar situation in that he was at the time in an underperforming car and he was involved in a pretty horrific incident in France. And he decided, even though he kept racing after that, in other forms of motorsport, that was his last Formula One race

because the team itself wasn't in a strong enough position that he believed it warranted him, coming back to the team, which you could argue is a similar position to maybe what Grojean feels he's in now. Of course, safety is far more advanced today than it is back then, and those sorts of incidents that we've seen from Roman Grosjean, you would hope, are more far and few between. So, yeah, interesting that maybe there's parallels in those two situations. We're going to be having a look at the race, obviously, itself, after the events unfolded there. racing point. No points whatsoever from this Grand Prix after it looked like Sergio Perez was on course for a podium until car issues were just a few laps to go. Alex Albin, the beneficiary there, picking up his second career podium. Valtry Bottas, Debris meant that he had an early pit stop and a fight back from P16 up and to P9. We'll be discussing whether he did enough. Driver of the day, worst driver of the day. And a bit on Danny Cavilla as well, obviously. He was involved in the Grosjean incident, but he was also involved in another incident.

a little bit later on that cost him 10 seconds in the way of a penalty when Lance Stroll was flipped, the car was flipped over in that incident. So we will start though with Roman Grosjean, just to touch on that a little bit more.

Sam, do you think that we've seen this year with coronavirus and how the F1 teams came together to tackle that? We've had another incident here. Do you think this just shows, even with the politics that happens on a daily basis, teams disagreeing with one another, that when push comes to shove, the teams will

band together and that they do race as one. I mean, what more evidence do you need than to watch the first kind of half an hour of the race broadcast today? The tears from people that were in separate garage is not part of the harsh garage. We saw tears from McLaren. We saw tears in Racing Point. I'm sure there were tears elsewhere at that, a sudden realization that a beloved member of the paddock, rather that be, you know, for future reference, driver,

skewered, marshal, you know, safety car driver, it could be anyone, you know, but Roman Grosjeon is beloved. And the fact that there was an opportunity to have lost him there shows that, you know what, when it comes to someone's life, when it comes to ensuring that we get to enjoy this sport, this spectacle that gets put on for us every single year safely, where the way. we know that these guys are going to make it home to their families, that they will do anything they can. And I think that's clear.

You know, we saw people, you know, Hamilton at one moment reacting, and then we saw members in the background who are, who unfortunately I can't name, you know, because they're part of pit crews and things like that, reacting exactly the same way. And this is one of those moments that regardless of where you are publicly, regardless of who you are in a team, I'm sure at any moment you would have been the first person to raise your hand

to help Grosjean if you had the ability to do so. And that does show that I think all Formula One teams and all members of those teams are within this sport together in the moment. In Dengu Zey on to that point where it's shocking, where it's life-threatening. They do come together. They stick together. And that's what we love to see is the fact that, you know what, at the end of the day, we're ruling it for the right reasons.

And it was good to see that. I mean, you should have to see that to prove it. But when push came to shove, we did see it. And it was the right thing to see. So I'm really proud of the entire F1 paddock, F1 grid. Even the FIA, when they came out to check those barriers, it felt like they gave enough time. They checked everything properly.

They were the correct checks given. The way the bloody marshals sprinted in there, better than any safety gear, you know, and they were stood about four, four or five feet away from this inferno on a track with batteries that could have exploded at any moment. It makes you appreciate what these people give. Remember that those, those stewards on the side, so the marshals on the side of that track,

they're just volunteers. They get no payment out of this. They do it because they love our sport and they want the sport to go ahead. And I think it says so, so much about how willing and committed every single person on that track week and week out is

to making this sport the spectacle it is. And for those that don't call motorsport or sport, those don't recognize it, have another look at what just happened today because you'd be silly to think that ridiculous opinion in my thoughts. It's breathtaking. So, yeah.

to be proud to go in a horrible situation. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's really tough to come up with words to describe the situation that we saw out there. And we've actually spoken quite a bit on safety over the last few weeks because there have been a few questionable incidents that we've seen, particularly in Istanbul. And even after what happened today, we saw a marshal later on in the Grand Prix when Perez went out to the side of the track. we saw a Marshall go across the track. Not long before, sorry, Norris went by. Do you think, Harry, this means that even though it is wonderful that Grosier has survived this incident, that it's just a stark reminder that we still have to continually strive

to proceed? Yeah, I mean, absolutely, you know, as you said, we've had a few incidents this year. but I think the Grosal incident and the way that it was dealt with and the way that he was able to get out of the car, I mean, thankfully, but I think that all the procedures that are in place

do work in terms of the safety on the car, safety in the barriers, although I know he went through the barrier, and also having the medical car there as well, and the way that the marshals are positioned on the track. But yeah, again, the marshal running across the track at the end of the race, you know, it's, you know,

it can still easily go so wrong, as we've seen today, or on two occasions almost. So, yeah, and, you know, and, yeah, the FIA have had some issues this year, but I think, you know, I would, I'd hope we could call them freak,

because, you know, have days like today where it goes horribly wrong, and the driver can still walk away from it, which is, you know, what all those procedures are there for. So, yeah, you know, I don't doubt, the you know continual

pursuit of safety or further safety in F1 but it will still continue for sure. Yeah, yeah. It's such a chilling incident and so much that could have gone wrong. When I say gone wrong, I mean beyond what already went wrong in terms of the Grosjean incident,

you know, the fact that he was able to get out of that fire as quickly as he did, the fact that he wasn't knocked unconscious by the initial impact, meaning again, he wasn't in that fire for longer than he needed to be, you know, the response time from everyone around him. There were so many things that could have gone wrong that could have led to a much worse outcome. Current status is that, you know, Grosjeon has been taken away to hospital, but injuries are relatively minor, considering the incident itself.

It looks like, you know, broken ribs, minor burns as well to the hands. Yeah, I'll just leave this segment by saying, you know, we wish all the best for for Roman Groson in his recovery in the coming weeks. And we're so thankful that we can still talk about him in the present rather than the past. So moving on to the race itself, because there's a 45 minute delay restart, standing restart later on. Racing Point. Lance Drol didn't have a very long time in the race at all. But Sergio Perez did have quite a substantial amount of time in the race. he was P3 for pretty much the entire Grand Prix until just a few laps from the end.

His engine went, no, no, not today, meaning he didn't get back to back podiums for the first time in his career, which would have been the case. Sam, do you think that racing points challenge for P3 is now over considering McLaren's fourth and fifth points all today? Firstly, I just want to say how devastated I am for Sergio Perez. The man has done everything he could do to prove that he deserves a drive for next season and the fact that it's currently looking like he's, one, not going to get a drive, which is gutting for one of, well, I think one of the best drivers on the grid at the moment. And two, the fact that he couldn't even get that little bigger glory to his name right at the end of his,

possibly his final season in Formula One, a back to that podium. We're going to being so well deserved. He drove so well all race. He got a great start, you know, the first time around, gets in front of Botas, who was struggling, holds off the rest of the guys behind him. Then on the second, obviously, standing start. Again, does a great job, right up behind the staff and holds on nicely, which is great to see.

And the guy is just working that craft brilliantly. And that engine failure was so, so, so horrible to watch. I mean, it could have happened to anyone. But I think Perez might have been the person that deserves at least, if you could deserve an engine failure. Because he deserves a little bit of goodness to come his way in his last season. but has this taken racing point away from third place two races to go the form of norris and science is getting better and better every single race it feels like and it feels like for some reason

racing point even with their 2019 Mercedes build aren't able to maximize the car in the same way that Mercedes themselves are the engine doesn't seem to be carrying them the same power McLaren are able to use that Renault power to a good strength and are good around power tracks and unfortunately for Racing Point the last two races definitely with the secure outer loop is a power track. It's down right, down to power.

Now, Sergio Perez, I think, will probably be fingers crossed that you'll have to have a new engine and that won't fail for him in the last few races. And you never know. The same thing could happen to Sykes Angorris or one of the other. And Stroll, of course, who ended up upside down, he was just hanging out at turn eight. He definitely could score himself some points.

The stroll has come on leaps and bounds this season as well. So I wouldn't rule them out entirely. I'm not going to say it's game over, but it is definitely, you know, 45, 30 to McLaren with match point going their way. And I think one thing goes wrong for racing point in the next race, then it's game over. What do you reckon, Harry, do you think that fight for third is over?

It's not over. You know, it's never even if you learn anything from effort. one, it's never over until that final corner of the final lap of the final race of the season. But it's definitely more difficult for a racing point, that is for sure. And yeah, McLaren are on strong form, it seems, around Bahrain. I think they were, you know, they've missed themselves. They were disappointed about their qualifying positions yesterday. They didn't think it reflected where they truly were on pace.

And they were much stronger than the race. That being said, they weren't as strong as Perez was. But yeah, it's going to be much more difficult for race. racing point now to regain third. But, you know, I'm not going to rule them out of this. Yeah, and just to echo what Sam said, I feel really so bad for Checo. I mean, he was, you know, up there with driver of the day, which we'll get on to. But yeah, he deserved that podium, that last spot.

And for God's sakes, I almost got another podium prediction right. God damn, you Mercedes engine. Yeah, so, like I said, echo what Sam said there. Cruel luck, but it's going to, yeah, and it's going to be difficult for them to come back for it. But I won't, you know, 100% say that it's impossible for them to do because we know that's not true in F1. Honestly, a Mercedes power unit spoiling things yet again. It's just been the tale of this hybrid era, hasn't it? The awfulness of that.

Anyway, yeah, well, I don't think racing points challenge is quite. over yet this is a massive dent though you know 17 points between themselves and mcclaren and with two grontrique to go you know an average of eight and a half point swing each race i mean that that's perfectly achievable but this does make it very difficult and just a side note as well and this could very well be the the difference at the end of this season 171 for mcclaren plays one five four for racing point that 17 point gap becomes two points if you take away the 15 point deduction that racing point got for the Mercedes debacle. So there is that to bear in mind.

Regardless, Sergio Perez, I'll echo what you said. They're so unlucky not to get back to back podiums. And we often see with midfield, quote-on-quote, midfield podiums that they get their way as a result of luck. But honestly, Perez drove the perfect race out there. There was never any doubt in him staying ahead of Alex Albin in the Red Bull. I mean, I think at best or at worst, depending on what stance you're looking at it,

I think it was about three seconds between Albert and Perez, but generally speaking, that gap was closer to about six, seven seconds for the majority of the Grand Prix. Perez seemed very, very comfortable. Did he take advantage of Bottas, you know, the debris that he picked up early on? Sure, but someone had to be there to do so. Perez had a wonderful race. This again goes back to the point that we made in Turkey. This doesn't prove that Perez should have a spot on the grid.

is just a little bit extra that, you know, he's already given more than enough evidence to suggest he should be on the grid. This is just another little bit to throw in there as well. In terms of, you know, McLaren did very well out there. Lando Norris drove a superb race. He was solid from start to finish. Carlos Sines, considering where he started, he did a great job. Racing Point definitely would have put this out and would have suspected that this race could have been not a clincher for them getting third in the championship, but this would have been a massive step for. them because judging on their pace in practice, they had a slight edge over McLaren. Considering what happened to Carlos Sines, that's a little bit of extra misfortune for McLaren

that should have been fortune for Racing Point that they couldn't take advantage of because one of their cars was also out in Q2 on Saturday. And then in the race, obviously, Science does a great job. Norris does a great job. And even though Sergio Perez is there by himself, fighting alone essentially, this is a massive dent in what they will hope would have a P3 season for them. And Ferrari, I think we all suspected that their performance in these next few races is not going to be strong enough to feature, and that proved itself to be true out there today.

But Renault, who will probably be a bit disappointed, their 10 points further back again from Racing Point. And I find it beautifully ironic almost that McLaren and Renno, Racing Point, they spend hundreds of millions of pounds on putting together the best Formula One solution they possibly can. And ultimately, these championship positions so often don't come down to those millions that they try and spend against each other in an arms race. They come down to minor strategic decisions that we see in Grand Prix. Renault did an awful job of managing their drivers when they were in direct battle with the McLaren's out there. and it's likely that that will cost them,

at least a chance of getting P3 in the championship, rather than anything else relating to finance. But yeah, it looks like Renault are out of it as well. So I think there is still a chance racing point can get P3, but they've made it much more difficult for themselves today. And to focus on Alex Albin, who was the beneficiary of Perez retiring, he got elevated to P3, his second podium of the season, the second podium and his career.

what did you make of Albans weekend, Harry? Because we often speak about how he should be the backup to Max Verstappen. And technically speaking, that's what he did out there today. Yeah, yeah. This is going to be the nice segment,

I think, of the Alex Albon chat because I'm going first. And we have Mr Sam Sage next. Just to warn Albon fans, this will be the nicest bit. Yeah. I mean, technically, if you put it out of that, Ben, you know, he did kind of do the job he was supposed to. But he was gifted that podium by that pesky Mercedes engine going bang on the, you know, with two laps to go.

And he never, he never, he was close to Perez, most of the race. But again, he wasn't, he wasn't there backing up Vastappen. And he, you know, he was nowhere near Vastappen's pace. It was not close enough to Vastappan to be a threat to Hamilton, which is what Vastappan needs if he needs to take on Hamilton. He's normally the one being attacked by two Mercedes. I mean, today it wasn't that case because Bottas had issues. But normally he is.

He needs it the other way around where he's got a Red Bull teammate that can at least help him tackle Hamilton because he's struggling to do it on his own. He's giving it a bloody good go, but he's not quite able to do it on his own. But yeah, if the finishing positions perhaps make a look better for Albon than it actually was. You know, he's, I get the point he did bounce back after his crash in FB2, but that was of his own doing and he was still miles behind, you know,

Vestappen in terms of time in Kuali. Yeah, and he wouldn't have ended up on the podium had it not been for Perez. So, you know, I think he's probably now done enough. to keep his seat next year, but he's got to do more because it won't be enough. A race like that today won't be enough to keep his seat past 2021,

I don't think. And now Albon fans, you need to turn off because as I said, that was nice. Yes, thank you for doing that announcement for me. Save my breath. Sam. Go. So, we all know that

Mercedes is the fastest car. Yeah, we can all agree on that, you goversely. We all go to Red Bull? No. Oh, all right. Well, that's throwing my second one out the window. Williams. Okay.

In the rest of late breaking, Williams is fastest. But for us saying F-1 fans out there, folks, we go that Mercedes is the top of the pile. And Red Bull, you know, arguably the second best car, yeah? The Stappen is only, what, now 11 points off of second place, boss in the Jock Drivers' Championship. And was the closest man by any means to Lewis Hamilton. If you remove that extra pit stop that the Stappen did to try and claim the fastest up of the race, there was about five seconds between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton today

and arguably that's the same he's much faster than the Red Bull as well so Hamilton with all his prowess, fantastic he won the race, he did what he needs to do. The Stappen, again, fantastic drive from the Stappan he does everything he can physically do to get the best performance out of that car. Now, we've had the debate all season long really,

it feels like it, from at least race four or five of who takes that secondary seat and the name Sergio Perez is pretty much been the running favourite for that, seat alongside Albon. And if you wanted a visualization on track of why you were to take Perez over Albon in this situation, you couldn't have had a better example today on track. The fact that the Stapung is, say, on the start finish line, and you're going to trace

back in terms of time, and, you know, 30 seconds back in a car that is significantly weaker than the Red Bull is not Alexander Albon. It's Sergio Perez. Sergio Perez is leading the other Red Bull by a. few seconds again. So Album is a full pit stop and a bit behind with a car in between. So if it's not Valtrey Bottas, it's now Sergio Perez. Sergio Perez is doing a better job at being Max Verstappen's teammate while not being in the Red Bull team. He's able to elevate a car that is not good enough to be fighting on the podium while Albuhrin is not able to get there. Album lucked into the podium.

Albin did the absolute minimum that he needed to do today. And if Bottas was not the unlucky man, that he was. I think that, you know, there'll be no podium for Albon today. I think that Albon would have been sat maybe in fifth place trailing Perez around and Bottas would have comfortably on the back of Bostappen, if not, you know, Hamilton-Bastappen, Bottas. And then it would have been Bottas that picked up second and a third, sorry, of Bostappen to get second. And I just think that there's a lot of things that make Albon look good at the moment. The same happened in Turkey. Max Verstaffa had a bad race. He still finished your front of Albon and it made Albon look good on the overall standing. You'll look back at the standings in history and you'll go,

Albaugh's only one place behind the staff of here. The same will happen here today. Albaugh's only one place behind the staff and here as well. Again, it was luck. He was not in the best place he to be. He should have already been in front of Perez. He should be backing his teammate up. No more than five, six seconds behind his teammate. The same gap to Vassan as what the Stappan has to Hamilton. The Red Ball is clearly capable of being that closed in the Sagees and the fact that Albon was almost a minute. away from Hamilton before that final safety car came out is not good enough. He will get that seat for next year because it is the easy option for Red Bull.

There's no fath about it. They haven't got a changing other drivers around. It makes their reputation look better. It keeps their young driver program in the right place where it needs to be because it is not in a healthy spot on the moment. Perez is the biggest loser out of all this. And unfairly so, in my opinion. Albon has not showed the performances this season.

He needs to have that drive. I hope he can turn it around next season. Otherwise, it will look like a much. massive mistake from Red Bull's part. For me, this was sheer luck. Shear luck. He is doing the absolute thing on what that Red Bull should be, and he should be much, much better and much, much closer. It was not good enough from me at all this weekend.

Yeah, that one is expected. And unfortunately, I'm not really going to help matters either. Because I think there have been races this season, perhaps, where Albin has looked terrible, but hasn't actually performed at a terrible, you know, a terrible level. I think this was the opposite in that, yeah, I kind of agree what Sam's saying here. Albon was made to look pretty good out there when in fact, actually, the way in which the race unfolded actually, yeah, it didn't end up as it really should have done. So, to take qualifying first of all, of course, there was just, you know, one position between

Verstappen and Albin at the start. They shared the second row of the grid. But ultimately, there was six tenths of a second, which around Bahrain, and we saw this quite a lot, particularly in practice, but also in qualifying in the race, there isn't actually a huge amount of opportunities to gain a huge advantage over your teammate. We see at some circuits where a driver will come in and be half a second, six tenths, faster than the other, and that might be replicated up and down the grid. At Bahrain, we saw a lot of incidents like Ricardo and Ocon, separated by 2000.

thousands of a second, the Ferrari guys in qualifying and in practice could barely be separated by anything. And we saw that with other teams as well. So six tenths at some circuits might be just about okay. Here, it's too much of a gap. And I know Red Bull have set kind of internal three-temp's guideline for Alex Albin. So he's essentially, he's doubling that. And if you're to look at it in the race as well, if you're to convert that six-temp's, sorry, that's three-temp's goal that they want Albon to be within. of Max Verstappen. Realistically, Albin should be finishing about 19 seconds or so behind Max Verstappen.

That's three temps reprecated every single lap. That's not including the safety car laps as well, which actually help him out in that respect. Ultimately, after 44 laps of this 57 lap race, Albon was 30 seconds behind, which means, actually, he's averaging very close to what he did in qualifying, which was about six or seven attempts behind Vastapan each and every lap, which is too much. Yes, he was there to take advantage of Sergio Perez's incident and ultimately that's what you have to do when opportunities to present themselves is take them. But here's the problem. They need Albin to be the rear gunner for Vastappen, but there's two prongs that. There's two different things that he needs to cover.

Firstly, there's position that he needs to cover, which obviously directly relates to points. When Max Vastappen is P3, they need Albin to be P4 or P5. you know, let's just say that as an example, which I know there was Perez in the middle of them, but he's almost covered that today. But the problem is that's only one element. The other element is time, because time relates to strategy, even if it doesn't relate to position itself. So we saw the album was in no strategic bother to Hamilton whatsoever because of how far away he was, even though he was only a couple of positions behind. Time relates to strategy, what the strategy relate to, strategy relates to points. So you need to cover both of them off, which Albin isn't doing.

Sometimes he's covering the position element of it off, but he's very rarely covering the time element of it off. So I don't think it was a brilliant race out there. I actually think there have been better races he's done this year where he's finished P5. Should we move on to Driver of the Day? Sam, who've you got? There's quite a few examples. Now, I know that the world gave it to Roman Grojeon. A Roman Grojean is very much in my thoughts, as as his family at the moment, for a swift recovery and that there's no

complications for anything like that. I'm not going to give it to Roman Grosjeon because there was a rest of the race that we got to see, but I just wanted to make that point first that I'm not doing it to be some heartless monster like I usually am to the other drivers on the grid. I think that Perez, definitely worthy of a mention.

Fantastic driver from start to finish from Sergio Perez. Hamel took a great job. Time management, kept it clean, do exactly what he you to do what he'd expect from a seven time world champion at this point. The Staffen as well, really, really great race, really strong. He really tried to take it to the Mercedes and I can't take anything away from for giving it a go. I'm going to mix it up between the two McLaren boys, actually, today.

I'm going to give it to Science. Science came back from 15th place on the grid to finish in fifth place. He got through a lot of Carnage. His strategy was well worked, made some great overtakes happen when he needed to as well. And Norris also had a great drive. I'm just for the simple fact that Scyx had to do just that bit more, I'm going to give it to Scyx, but I do think there are a lot of really, really strong performances

up and down the grid today, but for me, Sikes just gets it. Driver of the day, Harry. Yeah, that sounds there's quite a few options here. I agree with Sines. Perez, obviously, another one. But I, oh, and Gadsdie, too. He was one of the only ones he did a one-stop, which was impressive. He was kind of saved by the safety car at the end there,

but, you know, got to be in it to win it. But I will go for, I'll plant for Norris because I thought he was pretty impressive today. But, yeah, a lot of good performances out there. Yeah, I'd agree with that. Yeah, Hamilton was brilliant, start to finish. Couldn't really learn a better job, to be perfectly honest. You know, both of the McLaren's deserve credit.

Perez deserves credit as well. I'm going to agree with Sam. I'll give it to Carlos Sines. You know, starting P-15, he had a tall order to get in and amongst the two renaos and also his teammate, which he successfully did. And also we saw that a lot of talk was to do with tires before the race and indeed during the race and how durable they would be, plenty of two stops, some three stops going on out there, which is very rare for a race in 2020.

But we saw that Carlos Sines, he did an exceptional job on that first stint on those soft tires. You know, people were expecting that those soft tires would not be anything to race with. Like, everyone avoided the soft tire in Q2. They all wanted to start on the medium tires. They didn't want to touch the soft tires. Carlos Sines deciding, at a position, P15, that he would start on that tire, he did a brilliant job. He went out there longer than most of the guys who started on the medium tire and kept that pace.

So when he came out after his first pit stop, he was only just behind two Renaos. And ultimately with the tire advantage at that point, He made it count. Some good overtakes out there as well. I thought Carlos Seinfantz was brilliant, so I'll give him driver of the day. Worst driver of the day, Sam. And this one is actually trickier than best driver of the day,

or driver of the day. There's a lot of drivers that have very average drives. As long as I had very good drives, there weren't so many drivers that I thought were actually not great at all today. Albonne was one of them. He's not going to get it for me, but again, I do think he really lucked into that one. I can't also give it to Valtry BOTAS either.

Bottas, who I'm starting to think might be one of the unluckiest men in Formula One at this point, is not having a good time of it. Poor boss ass. But we're going to get on to him in more detail later on in the podcast. So if you're watching this on YouTube, by the way, full version on the podcast, go check it out, Spotify. So I'm going to give it to Sabraski Vettel. Now, Sebi Vett is clearly not happy in that Ferrari, and it was interesting to hear the complaints coming out of the the car over the radio

you know the clur going to hit me where it's not leaving the space all the time you have to leave with the space and he doesn't think the clerk did in a repeating of Austria which he obviously didn't like either because he was about six feet in the air

at one point in Austria he also said at one point that the car is undrivable and completely different to practice and qualifying which is interesting firstly because in qualifying he didn't do great anyway so it can't have been that good and secondly

he clearly felt relatively be comfortable because it will LeClero and neck and neck for the early part of the race weekend. And when it actually got to the race, he was nowhere. But I also think that it's a driver like Sebastian vessel that needs to be like a turn around a car that's struggling. He has the ability and the experience and should be like to show that I can pull a result out of a car that is not doing well. This is what a lot of people will ask of Lewis Hamilton, isn't it?

You know, oh, he's always done it in the best car. Well, actually, go look at the early 2012, 2011 region where McLaren weren't the best car. He did poor performances out of it. And they're asking the same of Vettel now and a struggling Ferrari. LeCler is able to do this. Didn't have a great race today. Don't be wrong.

But he still did it better than Vettel. And I think Vetta was unfortunately quite poor. So for me, Vettel does get worse driving the day. Who have you got, Harry? Sorry, I laughed because I liked that Sam was really struggling at first because he couldn't give it to the two people he'd like to give worse driver than day too.

I can't give it to Albonne. I can't give us a bot, I see. What are the time? What do? There's other bag drivers? I don't think either of them are bad.

Okay, they're fine. I would probably actually agree with Sam. Vetter was, wasn't great today. I think he was just really rattled at the restart. It was, as he said,

he was annoyed at Leclair. I mean, it was Leclair came from a fair way back and it could have gone wrong but it kind of worked it was kind of I don't know I just think Seb was just kind of rattled by the Grosjean incident you know we heard

Ted saying that he was just stood watching the TV screens replaying the incident um Seb and Grosjean are kind of good friends that similar age both have children families etc um yeah and and after he got off the first set of tyres his pace wasn't too bad you know in comparison

to Leclair yeah that first didn't he absolutely dropped like a stone. And I think he just got on his head. And he also had to deal with the flipping, when I say flipping, I mean rolling Lance Stroulcar in the way as well. So yeah, I'll give him it to him.

But I think that's, yeah, I think it was just completely shaken up, which, you know, maybe it's something he needs to deal with himself in terms of, you know, look at himself whether carrying one if one is for him. But I just got that impression that he was shaken up after the crazy start we had to the race. Yeah, I find myself in a similar position to what you said somewhere.

I don't actually think there were many poor performances out there. I'll give it to Kimmy Reichenen, but I think there are a few contenders that weren't all that bad, if that makes sense. Yeah, Kimi Reichen, I know he was nearly put in the pit wall by Antonio Giovannazzi, which came out after the race. which potentially means this needs to be reviewed. But I'll give it to Reikinen. He didn't seem to have the pace.

He wasn't there in qualifying. Jövanazzi was quicker. Very nearly escaped Q1 did Javanasi, and Rikkenen didn't look like he was going to do the same. And in the race, it seems if Javanan just had the legs on him all we can, which, yeah, it's a shame. But I'll give it to Kimmy. Moment of the race, Harry.

Oh, um, Moment of the race. I mean, there's obviously one that springs to mind, but I don't know whether I want to give it to that because it was just horrendous. What shall I give moment to the race too? I don't know. I can't think past Rami G,

which is just horrid. But, you know, it's going to be the, to be honest, anything that happened after lap one will not go down in history, will it? We're not going to remember what happened in a few years' time. So it's going to have to be the crash with Grosjean. Sam, what do you reckon?

I mean, I have to agree that Harry's right. That is going to be the most memorable moment, possibly of the F1 season. Hamilton winning a seven-time world champion, Robbie G, surviving what is one of the most horrific crashes we've ever seen. So I'm not going to give it to that because I want to try and be positive. I want to look past it. There was a rest of the race. And we said how, you know, utterly astounded.

that whole process was. So my moment of the race was a disgruntled Martin Brundle, about how he'd like a cup of tea. And Simon Laserby, like the little lackey boy he is, clearly sprinted across Bahrain with a thimble of black tea trying to pour some milking. And Martin Brunter, then looking down and going, it's a bit gnaff, but at least I've got a tea. So cheers. I quite enjoyed how ridiculous that whole process was. Crofty had to ruin it, of course. Martin Brunsler and Simon's interaction there. It put a little smile on my face. It was fun.

It was a bit different. I like it. So for me, moment with the race. That's the kind of commentary that I think, A, we appreciate and B, we do ourselves.

Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, that's good. I can say, I forgot about tea gate and lesson learned, you know, if it ever come to that, never asks Simon Leads and me for a cup of tea. I don't even drink tea.

I ask him regularly, so, you know, I'll keep that in mind. Duly noted. Deally noted. My moment of the race, I'm going to go for, not the incident itself involving Roman Grosian, but I'll give it to the moment when all of the paddock

were watching the screens anxiously, and he appeared on the screen for the first time, and there was just a round of applause in the paddock, which I thought was a wonderful moment. You know, like we said earlier on, there are so many incidents in Formula One where the teams are not aligned, and they're all trying to pull for regulations that will suit their cars and their teams and, you know, budgets and salaries.

Everything seems to be a contentious debate in Formula One. But there are these odd occasions where the whole paddock is completely and utterly aligned. And this was one of those moments. So I'll give it to that. So with that, let's move on to Danny Caviar. Danny Cavier had something of an eventful race. he was involved in a few things. So, of course, he was the car that made contact with Romain Grosjeon.

No fault of Kviyah, I should note, at this point. Yeah, he was involved in the Romang Grosjean incident on lap one. But then on the second restart, he was involved in another incident, which involved Lance Stroll, most specifically. It involved Lancherl flipping over completely. Lanshrol was out of the race at that point. Danny Kviat was landed with a 10-second time penalty. Harry, do you think this was about right?

Do you think it was too harsh or maybe too lenient? See, okay, I'm struggling with this one because I think at that point I was still, I think I was a bit dazed. I know we'd had an hour and a half, but I was still a bit dazed, and I don't remember seeing a replay of it. But from what I can remember,

I think it was, I don't know, I don't know, it's tricky on that one, and from what I can remember, but it was kind of side by side. I can't remember if Kaffirat lunged. Please remind me if he did or not. He did. He did lunch, maybe.

Half lunge, okay. He complacently went for a move and then kind of suddenly backed out of it, but it was a bit late. Okay. I think potentially the penalty is a reflection on the result of the accident, i.e. The stroll rolled over. Because we've seen other incidents like that on lap one. If he just been spun around or something, you know, it might have been a five.

I don't know. Is it harsh? No, I'll go in, no. I said, I'll text you both. It wasn't his fault the first one, I don't think, with a grocer at all. But he just need to be taken off the track. Liability, all round. Don't know what was going on with Kviat today.

He's bad omen, so sorry about that. Sorry about that, Daniel. What do you say, Sam? Ten seconds, right? I think this is a classic case of the skewers, once again, looking at the aftermath of the incident and how severe it is rather than the incident itself. We've seen so many incidents this season, almost an unprecedented amount of front left tire hitting rear right tire cars having some kind of sping off moment. You know, I can already think about Russia. We had the one with Leclair involved. We've had Alex

Albon and Hamilton. And there's a couple of others in there as well that I've already forgotten. But I don't think any of them got 10 seconds. I think they got five. And I think Harry was right in the fact that because the car is upside down, it makes it look so much more drastic than it is. I mean, it's still unpleasant to watch. But the crash itself is the same.

Unfortunately, Stroh decided that he wanted to do a roly-poly in his car rather than just go a little bit wayward and have to correct a half spin or something. And I think stewards need to almost write down a rulebook of if contact is A, penalty equals B. Not if contact equals A and cast things around, penalty is B. But if car is upside down and it looks dramatic, penalty is M. You know, it's like, where are you going with these ridiculous decisions that you're making? I think 10 seconds is harsh in comparison to all the other ones that we've had. But if all the other ones we've had this season got 10 second penalties,

I go completely fair. It's the same as everyone else as it makes sense. If that's what they warrant as a 10 second penalty, because arguably stroking on races, lost points, is lost opportunities, 10 seconds on the aggressor, so to speak, is fair, fine. But on the other hand, everyone else before the season, only got five.

And if that's what they're going to do, you need to match that. It's not about the aftermath of the crash. It's about the crash itself and the actions taken. and went to penalise the actions taken. And if anything, this one was a lot slower and just a bit clumsier than some of the other ones we've seen previously in the season.

So I think it's harsh in comparison to the previous ones in the season. Do I think it's an actual harsh penalty? Not really. No, he did against someone's race. And like I said, if all the other ones in the season got 10 seconds, I've been completely on board with it. But as Harry said, Kipi out was not having a good day today. So hopefully, beggar off next week.

We'll see. Penalty M. sounds like Ferrari have got something to do with this. Honestly. Strategy D7M minus four, as LeClair was probably on today. Is that my year 11 algebra homework? Quite possibly, it sounds like it. Yeah, I disagree for the same reasons that you disagree, Sam.

And I won't really spend any time on it because I'd essentially be repeating exactly what you said in terms of consequence and how. that should affect or shouldn't affect penalties that are given out. What I will say is this, and I know this happened for fact, don't dispute this. The FIA actually went to Jackie Stewart before this race, interestingly, and they said to him, look, we really like your tart and caps. Actually happen. Jackie, you know, he's a cool guy. He's like, yeah, sure, go on, take one.

Yeah, sure, take one. And the reason they wanted one was not actually to wear. wear it because what they like to do is actually use it as the place where they put little, you know, pieces of paper that have the amount of time penalty that they should apply. What they do is they saw the Kviyat incident and they went, all right, time to go into the lucky dip, which is, of course, in this incident, Jackie Stewart's cap. And they pulled out a 10 second penalty. That was how they came to that decision.

That is actual fact. Apparently. A lucky cap. Cast your minds back to Russia. Do you remember the, again, Lance Stroll incident, but with Charles LeClair on lap one, where Charles LeCler had a punt and got nothing for it? And then you can cast your minds back to the incident involving Hamilton and Albon,

where that one was deemed to be five seconds. And now we're casting our minds back to this race, and that one was apparently 10 seconds. If someone could please explain to me where those three incidents differ, and what makes one of them more than the other, please do let me know because I cannot for the life of me work it out. I thought it was harsh, but harsh because they haven't applied that penalty

for the same incident in other races. If you're going to give five seconds for punting someone off track, give five seconds here. I don't get it. I would be very interested to hear what the penalty given was, when it happened to Holkenberg, actually, in Abu Dhabi, because I don't know, but I wonder if the penalty was similar. Because that's the last time we kind of saw someone hanging like a cow to paraphrase.

Yes. Yeah, thank you for that, Nico. That phrase will live on. But yeah, I don't really understand how they came to this decision. I think Kaviat, I don't even think the incident was that bad, really. I know Kaviyat, it wasn't a full-on lunge. It wasn't a Valtry Bottas into Lewis Hamilton, as you brought up, on last week's podcast, Sam,

it was much more dignified than that. He had half a chance at it. It was a half-lunge, I would say, but not a full-on lunch. So, yeah, I think 10 seconds was harsh just based on the precedent that they put in place. Classic stewards.

Don't have a change. Or do. Who knows? Cheers, stewards. Cheers. Kick that one out of that. So we'll move on to, we'll leave with the final topic today

as Valtry Botas. Bottas are not the best race of his season. Got debris early on in the Grand Prix, had to pit very early on. I think he dropped down to P-16, made progress back through the field, enough to finish P-9 at the flag. Probably a good thing that he had a safety car come out, though, because he picked up debris again somehow. Someone by this guy some luck.

Harry, do you think that Bottas made enough progress in the Grand Prix? Yeah, I mean, that man, this, you know, know, someone is watching over Roman Grosjean today, you know, there's someone watching over Paltrey Bottas and just giving him bad luck all the time. He, he, he, if it had been Hamilton, Hamilton probably would have made more progress, in which case he'd say Bottas should have made more progress. But I got the feeling that he was absolutely, he's just done with this season. You saw it in Turkey when he was like, how many laps left?

Because he was done with that race. And, yeah, today, it was compound. but it was his own fault. He had a terrible start, I think, in the first start. He was kind of, I don't get an answer. If you know the answer to this, either of you, or people listening, how did he gain a place when we started again? So the restart was, the places were counted back, not from going up the hill towards turn four, but from the safety car two line, which is situated at the end of the pit lane. so Botas had dropped obviously back off the front of the grid by that point,

but after crossing the line, he was only fourth, not sixth. So he actually ended up gaining two places. Okay, well, it was, okay, slightly lucky in that sense. But yeah, he probably should have made more places up. But they pointed out in commentary. The Mercedes isn't particularly good at being in traffic. But yeah, as I said, I think if it had been Hamilton, he'd have made more places up.

I just think Bottas is ready for 2020 to be over, and he's working on his plan for 2021 to work. He's got a plan. It's going to happen. Oh, dear. To win the championship. Yeah, he's just an unfortunate race. But yeah, I think he probably could have done more.

But the two punctures did not help progress, if we're being honest. No, they didn't exactly help, did they? Sam, do you think he needed to make more positions up? Well, talking of Bossass's bad luck, there's actually in the interview after the race he was asked about his bad luck. And he jokes about how there was a black cat hanging around his apartment back at home. And obviously, you know, black cats are a bad omen. You know, they're regularly seeing as, you know, you've got bad luck. And he kind of said to the interviewer, like he'd been feeding it. And there's a quote going around that, you know, he could promise you that he'll not be feeding that cat anymore. So there's going to be a starving cat in Monaco if anyone was interested. But at the same time, it means that bossassas. will now wing the 2021 World Championship. That's literally the only thing stopping him. The man is a debris magnet. I've never seen someone pick up more debris,

especially in a title fight. You have a Ferrari actual road car lodging the side of his car going around Imola. It's like someone I just parked it in his bargeboard. Before that, he's picked up punctures, and then he's had the unlucky power unit failure, the only one of the whole season between the both of them. The guy is just so unlucky.

The only one I maybe wouldn't say is unlucky is the Silverstone puncher where that came down to tireware capabilities. Come on. Not this again. It makes a difference. You're blind if you don't see it. But I mean, again, you know, that could be down lucky. But it could be. The guy is incredibly unlucky.

And you could see it in him, I think, this race that he was a bit like, what is the point? It's not like I've got a championship to save anymore. Maybe I'll just lull Lewis into a false sense of security. So when he strolls into Melbourne, you know, proper like, what's that? And the eighth article, the Irish one,

where he does that really big, silly walk. Connemogreger. That's it. Kong McGregor. Lewis Hamilton, as Kong McGregor. Strolling in, limbs flailing.

It's me, Lewis. I've come to wing again. Bottas is going to be like, ah, he doesn't think I'm good enough. I've got debris all over my car. He's going to blow it off.

And he goes, right, I'm having you now. And I think Bottas is going to take the fight to him. But I can understand why he wasn't bothered. I don't think you made enough enough progress. I think there was a mix of bad luck that the safety car came out but also good luck that because he had a puncture he probably got more places to hang his tie and not gone again

it was just a mess for Bottas and I think the guy needs to get out of this season had a bit of a break because Hamilton is a, if he wings like excru-rates matches the record for wings in one season and it's currently on his pretty much his strongest streets since what, 2013 or 2014 in terms of wings, it's five in a row for Hamilton now. So I think Bottas should have done more.

but Botas also had a lot of bad luck in this race that stopped him from doing so. It was interesting to say that also the Mercedes can't follow again. It was very clear that even behind Reiking with a broken front wing, Bottas was struggling to get through. So shows that Mercedes create the car still for absolute dominance and not for having to cut its way through any traffic. And I think that with a demotivated Bottas meant that he can only get so far. So tough one for Valtry.

A lot of it not his own fault, I think. Yeah, I think ultimately he would have made a lot more progress. if he could pick these drivers off one by one. The problem is, and like you've mentioned, this Mercedes is not designed to work in traffic. And it makes complete sense. They know that they can build a car that is outright, quick enough to be ahead of 90% of the field.

So why would they focus so much on it being able to follow in traffic? So I do have sympathy for Bottas. And obviously the situation itself, there was nothing he could do. And it's a massive shame that it happened when it did. if it happens halfway through the Grand Prix or if it happens three quarters of the way through the Grand Prix, the likelihood is he would have dropped from, let's just say he was in P3, maybe to P4. Yeah, I don't think it would have really mattered much at all after those gaps had materialized. But because it happened at that point in the Grand Prix, it meant that he had to overtake a large amount of cars who all had DRS on one another.

And that seemed to be the struggle for him. If he was able to, like I say, if he was able to, you know, pick off, right. and then Jovanazzi, then Vetter, and do it one at a time. I think he'd have had a lot more success. Should he have got a few more positions? Yeah, probably. I think Hamilton would have done a slightly better job. We saw what Hamilton did at Monza this year,

and he did a very good job there in going back through the field. But, yeah, I don't have a lot in the way of criticism for Bottas. I think he did a reasonable job. It wasn't an easy one out there. But yeah, I think probably realistically, one of the first. two more positions could have been achieved. Well, I think we'll leave that podcast here. Obviously, a highly emotional one.

We'll be back on Thursday for the podcast for the second Grand Prix in Bahrain, the Sequea Grand Prix on the Outer Loop. Notice I'm not calling it oval, Grand Prix, the penultimate race for the season. Sam, if you wouldn't mind for this Grand Prix, getting us out of here. Folks, it's been a wild one. Thank you for skipping.

us through this long podcast of ours. If you've enjoyed it, come chat to us on Twitter at O'Reaking again. Late Breaking on Instagram as well, join us. YouTube videos going out. We've got a silly one coming very soon where we play Formula One drunk. We're all together. That was just ridiculous. But if you want a bit of a laugh and to laugh at us,

which we all know everyone likes to do, then please get over there and give that a watch. It's coming out very soon. Please join us again later on in the week for the preview of the Sekear for and, of course, we'll be here for the rest of the season. into the winter break for much more. In the meantime, I'll be standing safe. I've been Ben Hocking.

And I've been Harry Each. And remember, keep breaking late. Cast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.