The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Hamilton equals Schumacher's record! | 2020 Eifel GP Review | Episode 80

Episode Date: October 11, 2020

Hamilton equals Schumacher's record. Bottas retires. Ricciardo scores a podium. And Raikkonen becomes the most experienced F1 driver.Listen to what the boys thought of the Eifel GP...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 Formula One podcast. Reviewing the Eiffel Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton claimed his 91st career win, matching the record by Michael Schumacher

and extending his championship lead to 69 points over his TV. mate following Botas's retirement. Time to bring in Samuel Sage and Harry Ead. Guys, how did your bold predictions go? Well, I'm going to ignore that question, and I'm just going to talk about how you introed that as if we were in a theme park on a local summer fair. Hello, welcome. I am actually. Which I love.

And now I can imagine bringing me and Harry in, like we're coming in through like two mystery doors on each side of the stage, smoke coming out. Bair, boom! You know, that kind of thing. Like, here we go. The fight is on. I got nothing else to say after that. I'm also, my bold prediction, I thought at one point yesterday,

it could come true, because we had Markers finger, I mean, Niko Holkenberg, come in, super sub as well as Marker's Valk. I just needed a bit of rain, but of course. I was one third right.

I wasn't right then. But the problem is, you weren't 100% right. However, on the contrary to that, Roman Groson scoring points did happen. So, bold prediction, green tick next to that. Roman Grosion with a broken finger. Yeah, I'm going to use his broken finger to swear at you over the fence.

He doesn't care. You know how, like, this is Michael Jordan Flu game-esque, you know. Roman Grojean, hard hit by the fit, you know, he was in a lot of pain. He was in a lot of trouble. But Roman Grosion, Roman Bollard, the power that he is, was able to work his way through the pain. get points. Classic Grojean performance, really. Gutsi.

I'm quite happy. I've got Gaffa Gose. All right. We'll actually move on from Roman Groson, but we've got a lot to discuss today. We'll be discussing the circuit itself, the Nurembergroom, whether F1 needs to visit on a more regular basis. Hamilton, of course, out-dealing Vestappen for the victory

and how Bottas can bounce back from this setback. But Bottas' downfall was Ricardo's opportunity. So we'll be discussing Ricardo's podium, his first one, Renno's first one for about nine years, Ricardo's first one since Monaco, 2018. But firstly, let's take a look at the Red Bull situation. Vastappen P2, but Alex Albon struggled. After dropping to P6 at the start, Albon Pit early on, making his way back through the traffic, but a collision with Kvilla and then a power unit problem ended his afternoon.

Sam, first of all, what did you make of his performance? And is it time for Red Bull to perhaps assess their options here? Brace yourselves, Album fans. I'm going to try and be analytical, okay? Okay. And I'm going to put it out there again, because I always feel like I have to. I like Alex Albaughan.

He's a nice chap. But your teammate starts right up there the Mercedes. You're less than half a second away from pole position and less than two tenths away from Lewis Hamilton after qualifying. The Stappan once again displays

why he is considering one the best drivers that we're seeing in Formula One for a long time. He is up there with Lewis Hamilton is the only other best driver on the green at the moment, I think. Those two are the top two going. Alba, on the other hand, I currently don't think it's in the top half. You started in fifth place behind the clear.

You don't make up ground. The car gets the better of you. You're stuck in traffic for ages. And Red Bull have the clever idea to bring you in. It's a bit dodgy. But you have locked up your tyre for nine hours going into turn three. So you don't have any rubber left on that tire. So they bring you in early, which I get.

Get you a track of that traffic a little bit. and you're 10 seconds behind in last place now. And then you don't make up any ground. And then you start making up ground eventually, after more people pit and whatnot. And then when going past Gassley, for some reason, you believe that his car is half the length of everyone else's,

and you just drive into him. It seems as though the moment Albaugh seems to have any kind of interaction with another driver. Is it, because it could be out, sorry, not Gazzi, give you up. You just seem to collect them. There seems to be so much contact and poor management in your drive. You don't have to come in again for another.

other set of sides because you locked them up massively. Again, it's just, where's the management? Where's the place to match the car that you've got there? They retire you because of an engine issue, which I've got to be honest. I think that's a bit of a saving grace. I think they've said that out of kindness for Alexander Albon and maybe the abuse he may get from people such as myself. He's not good enough.

I'm sorry, I've tried to stick it out. They've given so much more time to Alvin they did to Gasly. Carry on to the end of the season as well. Don't stop that half a year of the season. Let him finish the season. season. But for me, there's so many great drivers waiting in the wings. There's so many brilliant people who deserve a

top seat and deserve a good crack. Albon is not cutting the mustard for me. He's not even cutting the jelly. You know, it's not cutting anything. He's been given a spoon and it's made out of plastic and it's snapped the moment he tried to cut anything open. The guy is just not up to scratch. And I'm, I'm kind of hang enough now.

We try to always give, yeah, more time. Yeah, you know, the pressure. Yeah, it's a toxic environment. You've not delivering. Move on. Red Bull cannot continue to fight. say it's with one driver essentially and it's just not good enough what did you make of the performance harry or what there was of it yeah it was it was it was shoddy it was messy i don't know what we know we've seen um most of alban's problems this year have been his actual one-lap pace where he's just admired him down the grid and then he's had to perform well during the race to make up for his bad quality um and today I mean, he was still a fair way off Max yesterday, outqualified by Leclair, which, you know, still not brilliant, but at least he was kind of, he was in the top five, at least, fifth. But yeah, his race today was just, it was just messy.

And, you know, if you're, if you're Red Bull and you're looking at other drivers who didn't have a messy race, didn't run into other people, didn't keep locking up their right front for some reason, you've got two giant, three agents in that racing point team this weekend, Holgenberg and Perez, who both had pretty superb races. So, yeah, it was a, there's a real messy one.

I thought Albonne had turned a corner at Magello. But yeah, today was... It did. You're an idiot. He turned many corners. I think he turned more than one corner. Why did we do a podcast? Yeah, I've lost my...

Drain the thought now. Yeah, it was just a messy one. And the retiring him for, he had an issue with his car. I think it was rubbish. I don't think that was actually real. But anyway, we'll see. But yeah, considering other drivers in the field

don't have a drive next year and we're driving better than Albon did, it was a bit of a worrying weekend for him, I would say. Yeah, yeah, not one of his better weekends. That's for sure. In a year that, quite frankly, hasn't had many good weekends as well. The first thing that I wanted to pick up on was his interview after qualifying where P5, you know, by Albin standards this year, is actually one of his better qualifiers. He was about half a second or so off the pace of Vestappen, which is about where he's been this year, give or take a few tents. And only one car separating himself from Vestappan, which isn't great, but is still better than quite a few other qualifying performances this year.

First of all, I mean, he was asked about where he could be in the race today. Firstly, he kind of joked that a win would be nice before being a bit more realistic in saying, you know, it'd be happy with P4. And Rosberg, Nika Rosberg on Punditory duty, he picked up on this and said, I completely agree with him that he did not like that comment at all because it just shows a complete lack of ambition. P4 should be based on what car he's in the bare minimum of what Albin achieves week in, week out. And he should be claiming podiums where one of the top three, as was the case this time, they run into some sort of problems.

Today it was Valtreibosat retiring from the race. In other situations, it's Lewis Hamilton claiming a penalty at the end of the Austrian Grand Prix. When those sorts of things happen, you want Albin to be in P4 with the opportunity to then strike. it didn't happen. So I also took issue with him targeting P4. Where's the ambition to go for a podium? Could you imagine Max Verstappen qualifying P5 and saying, oh, it'd be great if I finish P4 tomorrow? You just wouldn't, you would never hear that from him because it's not what should be expected of a Red Bull driver. Ultimately, Red Bull have a target and their target is to beat Mercedes. That's the be all and end all. Mercedes are the only team right now that are ahead of them.

The target has to be to take them down. And they haven't achieved it and no one else has achieved it in a long, long time. Do they have, at their disposal, two drivers that can do that? The blunt and honest answer is no. Vestappen can do it and Albin can't. So if your driver is not in a position where he can do something about it, you need to move on. You need to look at other options.

Or at the very least, you need to understand why it's not happening right now and whether it could happen in the future. Personally, I think he has had sufficient time to at least show something. And today was a prime example of where Red Bull can take advantage and they just don't. Botas out of the race. And I'm not even speaking about Albin claiming P3 as a result of that. I'm saying Vestappen had no chance whatsoever to mix up the strategy and potentially gain a race winner, at least ask some questions of Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were both in a position where they could have pit a second time. Obviously, the safety car they did in the end, but without that safety car, there was one stop, two stop. It was a bit unsure. Either of them could have could have stopped, but Hamilton would have covered it off straight away. Albin's in that fight, even 20 seconds away from the lead two guys. He's a factor, and suddenly they have to bear that in mind. Wasn't the case, and Vastappen was Hamstrung. There was nothing he could do.

And people compare the Botas and Albin situations quite a lot. And I think that's completely wrong to do so, because Bottas and Albin are not in the same league, quite frankly. Bottas on Saturday. And Bottas has his own issues, and we'll probably go on to discuss those in a bit. But Botas can beat Hamilton in qualifying, and he can take race wins when Hamilton isn't there.

He beat Hamilton by two and a half tens on Saturday. You'd never see Albin do that over Vastappen. So I don't think those two situations are at all comparable. Looking at the race itself, I think, you know, he was barely lucky to avoid contact on, on lap one, going into turn three. 22 laps or so, I think it was that he ended up doing two pit stops, ruined the first step of mediums that he was on, complained about Gassley racing him too hard, which is quite frankly ridiculous.

There was nothing... Hilarious. There was nothing that Gassley did wrong. And second of all, like, you don't hear Vestappan complaining about Gatsley's driving. Do you know what the reason is? Verstappen's nowhere near Gassley, as it should be, because he's got a much better car. I don't think Vastappan and Gassley has shared the same bit of circuit at all this season, because Vestappan's always, rightfully so, way ahead.

Alvin seems to fight Gassley on a weekly basis, and there's no reason that they should just give it up. No reason whatsoever. The Kavirat incident was poor, you know, it was just misjudgment on Albin's part. There was no real need to move back. I know he would have had a better line if he'd got all the way back to the left-hand side of the circuit. but again, he's in a much quicker car. Kaviat was clearly struggling at the time. Alvin would have got passed.

And, yeah, I really do think that Red Bull need to assess their options here, and they need to definitely consider moving on from Alex Albin. Because Alex Albin is a good driver, and he has a future in the sport, but I don't think it's at the top. I really don't think it's at the top. The one problem for me is, and this is when Albin came into that role last season, it's all about progression. That's why Gassley was dropped.

From the first race of that season in Australia to his last race before the summer break, there was no progression. There was no sign that Gassley was going to get closer and closer to Vestappen. And I thought that might be different with Albon because he started out fairly well, at least in comparison to Gassley and how he fared against Vastappen. But you need to see that progression to be able to comfortably claim that seat. You need to be able to demonstrate that, okay, the qualifying head-to-head was 7-10, over the first 10 races. In the next 10 races, it needs to be three-tenths to show that,

you know, you are getting closer. But I don't think that's been the case. You remember, Alban matched this happened in qualifying in Japan last year. I haven't seen that again this year. There's been no progression. So what sign is there whatsoever that Red Bull should stay with him? And you rightly say, where you've got two free agents, essentially, in the racing point cars, who showed what they were able to do this weekend. Both of them had good races. It's worrying for Alman. It really is. On top of that, just for context, if you think we're being harsh about it, which don't go wrong, I think often we like to, we like to have some fun with things, but I've got the points table up in front of me, and this will surprise you here.

Stapting 147 points in third, Ricardo and fourth, 78 points. That tells you the gap and where maybe the other Red Bull should be in that gap. Perez in fifth, 68 points. Remember Perez has missed two races as well. Peresing fifth, 68 points. Landon Norris in sixth, with 65 points. Alexander Albon, there he's in seventh, 64 points. Charlotte Clare and that Ferrari is one point behind him and he's had more podiums this year than Albon has, in a Red Bull that's been on the podium at least I think seven or eight times out of the last 11 races. Blenholkenberg, he's got 10 points to his game already. It's only been in two Grand Prix. The poor bloke's trying his artist and Perez has done the same

thing. So if you think that album, we're speaking harshly of him, that tells you that everything you need to know. The fact that he, if he has one other bad race, it's every chance that he can drop as far down to 10th or 11th place in the Constructors Championship. And that, for me, in a car that has won a race this season, legitimately, not through any, you know, red flag business, actual on pace, that tells you everything you need to know.

That is not good enough. So, I mean, if they were to look for someone else, Sam, who should be at the top of that sheet. You would be crazy to look past Perez or Holkenberg. I have to take my hat off to Perez. He is driven brilliantly for the latter part of this season. You're like a poor start. I mean, not bad, but poor in comparison to what Perez is I think is capable of.

And then he got dropped for what we now know is the move from Sebastian Vettel. But since then, he's almost been like a driving billboard. You know, he's like, look at me. Look at me go. He's almost fourth in the championship. You know, if he has another good race and Ricardo has a poor one next time out in Imola, Perez goes fourth in the championship, which is just incredible. So, hat off to Perez.

He deserves another. seat in F1. And if it gets to read that Red Bull for maybe two years, or they change something around, great stuff. Perez has got the backing. Cres has got the know-how. Prez has how to develop a car. Perez will work well in a team. I don't think Perez of Staffel will fall out over anything. On the other hand, Nico Hulkeberg. Guy's been around for a long time. He's not really old yet. He's got at least three or four years left at capable in a car. Again, knows how to develop and build a team. Very popular with fans. We've probably settled into the team really well. Holgerberg's like the most laid-back guy going unless it's around Magnuson.

honestly, those are two people that you've got there that are brilliant. And if you want to look at it, I don't think you'd take it, but Pierre Gazley is one of the drivers of the absolute season so far. So why would you again not consider Gazley? If you could say to him, you get your time, we won't pressure you like we did. We'll give you the same environment you've got a Toro or so. Oh my God, I've done it. Alpha Tauri.

Then why not? You've got at least three guys in your line up. That are bloody brilliant. And if you really want to go crazy, you've got guys in F2 as well that are also cheering out great performances. For me, unfortunately, this is the line. season, the Albon, should be at Red Bull. Get goat roy in the car. Come on, Red Bull. Well, I mean, Harry, I was going to ask for your view as to who they should be lining up, but that's clearly answered the question already.

One of the more serious, no, anyone else you'd like to mention, or do you think it is those names that should be in Red Bull's consideration? What, Roy Nassani, Roy Nisani, and then Roy is like. I was thinking more Nika Holcombberg and Sergio Perez, but sure. Yeah, no. Well, yeah, like I said earlier, I think, you know, today, was a case in point. Holgerberg and Paris both drove really well and why would you not take one of those drivers for that Red Bull scene next year? Maybe I know Red Bull really want to stick to their junior program and that's what they you know promote the hardest but sometimes maybe

you can admit that it's not working and that's why they've had to drop Gasly drop Kaffirat in the past because it's you know just doesn't quite work. Why not? They've, They've employed outside before. They had Weber. They had DC when it first started, then they first started the team side. I didn't, it's almost like they're kind of too focused on this young driver program

to look at their other options. So, yeah, if honestly I would put, I don't know who I choose between Holdenberg and Perez, but probably Perez. I put one of those two in that kind next year. Yeah, I personally think Perez should be target one. Just because we have got that previous, of Perez and Holkenberg head to head and it was Perez who came out on top.

You know, Perez has got eight podiums to his name, Holkenberg. As much as I like him, there's a reason he hasn't got any. He's always been a solid driver. I don't think he is capable of that absolute top seat. And I think Perez probably is. We speak a lot about Perez's early move to McLaren and the fact that it just came too early in his career. And I would definitely agree with that. Maybe there's that, maybe that instance actually applies to Gasly and in Albin as well.

maybe the future, maybe they will get another shot. Maybe Album will continue in there. We don't know at this point. But yeah, Perez, I think not only based on today, but just based on his performance generally, really in the hybrid era, you can go all the way back and just see what he's capable of. He's very advantageous. He's very opportunistic.

And ultimately, advantageous and opportunistic are the two things that Red Bull need the most in that second driver. We've said all along that Max Verstappen can be your number one guy. That's absolutely fine. you need that backup. And the backup needs to take advantage when Vastappen isn't there or when one of the Mercedes retires. Ghazli hasn't been able to provide that role.

Albon isn't able to provide that role. I think Perez would be more than fitting of doing a job there. So I would, I'd be lining up to get Sergio Perez. I mean, just to, I don't, not necessarily excuse Albin and Gassley, but we've seen Vostappan now, he's dominated the pair of. of them. Harry, do you think there is an instance here where Vestappen is just completely outperforming the car, or do you think that it is maybe a bit of both? I think he, well, I don't know, because I just think that car, you know, he's been in that team for a while now and that car, it suits him.

And he has a particular way of driving it that obviously, Gassley and Albon can't really get their heads around or couldn't get their heads around. Yeah, we know how good Max is And any driver that comes in has to drive against him It's going to be tough Yeah, and I guess it makes the gap look even worse But, you know, if you're going to be in a top team Such as Red Bull, you're going to, you know,

Ricardo could do it, he could match Max So it can be done Yeah, it just takes a lot of talent and I don't know. Albon and Gassley have a lot of talent, but maybe not just quite enough, at least to drive around the way that that Red Bull is set up, which you know is quite clearly for Max, because, yeah, he's their chosen driver.

So I don't really know what other drivers have to do. I don't know which ones they bring in, would Perez come in and struggle as much as Gassley and Albon? I don't know. He could well do. But they want to keep Max, so they're going to have to keep making that kind. four max. So I don't know what Red Bull do really. Sam, do you think there's a case here that Vastappen is making Albin and before him

Ghazli look worse than they've actually been? Yeah, 100%. But again, I think that's part of racing, right? You need to step up to your competition and your closest competition is the guy on the other side of the garage. Verstappen, as I said earlier, is in the top two of F1 at the moment, Hamilton being the other guy up there. he's out driving that car 100%. He's mixing it with the Mercedes. If Verstappen wasn't around, if we have both Gasley and Album in that car, shall we say,

I think the Red Bull will be a lot further back than we think they would be. Max de Stauffin is driving brilliantly. The guy is a true talent. It's raw talent. He's stepped up another level again this year. We had that Brazil performance last year. What I really think it was like, Pete for Stappen. And he's carried that form through the whole way through this season.

He's doing a brilliant job. deserves all the praise he's getting. I would love to see him in a car that is able to challenge for a race ring after race wing, because I think it would be a fantastic fight between him and Hamilton. And yes, he is outclassing those two drivers, Ghazly before, now Albon. But they also should be learning from that. Botas has managed to step up.

Bottas has improved over the time that he's been at Mercedes. Bottas went a whole season around without a race wing. And now look at him. He's beating Hamilton regularly qualifying. They are separated by less than a couple of seconds on most races, and they do both finish, which is 99.9% of the time. Botas has gotten better because of Lewis's influence and vice versa. Lewis has also stepped it up because he's got Botas could deal with.

Bottas is no slouch. The Stappling is motivating himself and going by himself. I don't think he feels challenged by Albu. I don't think he felt challenged by Gassley. And I think that he will continue to be a complete talent. And they almost need to put someone in that isn't a young talent looking to prove themselves. The nice thing about Holkeberg and Perez is that everyone likes them. Everyone knows them.

They're a normal face around the grid. people got what they're capable of. They haven't got to go in there proving that they're worthy of some kind of drive like Albon has. They're ready for it. They're good. So they do a couple of years.

They develop the car. They go into the new era of Formula One and they help them develop how the car feels for that. And then you know what? Perez or Holgerberg get to a point where they're old enough to step away

and they bring someone young who's had a couple more years to develop. For me, the Stapel is elite. Albon and Gassie are just very good and I think you need to have someone in there that has no expectations who is able of

driving well, such as Prometa Holkenberg. Okay, moving back to the race itself then. Driver of the day, Harry, who have you got lined up for this award? A few candidates. Hamilton, obviously, Ricardo, but I'm going to have to

go with Nuka Holmberg. I'm going to have to be a sheep and agree with the masses, because that man was having a coffee in Cologne at 11 a.m. yesterday, and then he finished P8. So I know he's driven the car before, but it's only race two, this year that he's done.

A poor man's never going to be able to relax ever again, is he? He's just going to be permanently looking at his phone, waiting for Otmar to call. Yeah, a super job, and we've already spoken about how well both

racing point drivers did today. But yeah, considering he jumped in the car, did four laps for quality yesterday. I think P8's a pretty huge result. So, yeah, I'm going to go, Nikol Holkenberg. Sam, who you've got for driver of the day? Well, just to talk about Nika Holgerberg, again, because why not? Who doesn't love to talk about Nika Holgerberg?

The guy started P20, you know, he was not too far off getting through to Q2 either after not pretty much running a single lap. Literally had a, you know, a couple laps at the start of the qualified to warm himself up and bam, he was there. Started last. Yes, five cars went out this race. So that would only put in P15. He's seven places up on that again. Like, it's an actual for him, isn't it? He's jumped back in that car, and he's pulled the performance out of the back.

Lance Stroh, I don't think we'll have been too much higher up the grid. At most, I think Longstrol might have been fifth or sixth. So for P.A., after having done one other race all season, fantastic performance from Nika Holgerberg. And I'm inclined to agree about with the masses and with Harry about, you know, driving the day. Lewis Hamilton, for me, as well, doing a great job. The fact that in his post-race interview, now I don't know if he's saying this because it happened to turn out true or if Hamilton's actually thinking this way.

But in his post-raised interview, Hamilton spoke about how he's about two seconds behind Botas, second and a half. And he started to notice that Bottas was struggling with his tired and how he managed his tires better. And he was like, right, now is my time to strike. I've got to go. And you saw the gap on the timing screen to go from about 1.6 down to 1 second, 0.9 seconds. And on the final corner, it was 0.8 seconds. And that was the corner that Hamilton pressured enough. Bottas locks up.

Hamilton, yeah, it was close. But Hamilton gets that move down around the outside of turn to, takes the race, lead. And even if Bottas fell off the track at that point, you know, even if Bottas manages to actually then not DNF the car due to engine problems, I think Hamilton goes on to win that race and he strike brilliantly. So Holcombberg's top, but Hamilton for me, Justin Behind and then Ricard and Perez also both excellent. Yeah, I think with Nico Holkenberg, I think he is definitely a contender. I'm not going to give it to him, though. It was definitely an impressive performance, but I think it's important to bear in mind that Bottas, Norris, Albin, all would have finished ahead.

He beat the Alphas, the Haskai's, Latifi. There wasn't necessarily anyone who he definitely shouldn't have beaten that he did beat. No, it's not taking anything away from him. I just think his performance was maybe slightly inflated by how the race went. But he was there to take advantage, so fair play to him. He is a contender. He did be better. He did be better.

Yeah, yeah, he did beat Vessel, although, and I'll get onto him in a little bit. No spoilers whatsoever. I'm going to give it to Daniel Ricardo on his return to the podium. I think it would have likely been fairly close with him and Sergio Perez, and I guess the safety car took away that finish between the two of them because the safety car kind of neutralised it for that individual battle. I'm not sure how it would have gone. I reckon Ricardo would have held on, but I'm not too sure.

Regardless, I think the pair of them had great races. And Ricardo, you know, he managed to get past Leclair, didn't make any rash moves whatsoever. It took a few laps from to do it. But when he did get past, it was clean. And yeah, from there, he was just able to control his race. And we've seen this year, actually, Ricardo's never been poor on his tyres. But he's actually had a really good opportunity this year to show how good he is at tire management. I think Perez is right up there as well, obviously, in that regard.

but yeah, Ricardo, really well-managed race, fully deserved podium. It's only really due to misfortune and things not quite going his way that he hasn't already been on the podium this year. For me, he is outside of Vastappan and Hamilton. I think he's been the best driver this year. Great, great result, great performance. Worst driver of the day, Sam. Well, it's between two and one of them retired.

Albon, you were scapegoating out by your team. Have it made known here that I do think that Red Bull created an issue to get Albon off the track. But Sebastian Vettel was the worst driver of the day. Charlotte Clerk did do a great job. Yes, he fell down from the starting position, but he's still out driving that Ferrari, I think. Vessel can't even get into the points at this point. You know, he span it.

He's absolutely dropped one there, which looks silly. He's being beaten by Alfa Amos. It's just, I know that Vettel is kind of on the beach at the moment. He wants to get out of the rest of his possible, but he's not doing his reputation any good. He does need to step it up, I think, before the end of the season. He's lucky that he's a four-time world champion

because if this was happening to someone who had no world championships, it was just maybe a race winner, I think he might be out of a drive. So for me, his championships are saving him a little bit because this was another really poor performance. What's seeing you, Harry? It's between Vetter and Albon, but I'm not going to give it to Vettel just because he did gather up his silly drop pretty well

and he also didn't run in 21 so Scobie Albon. Neither of them were great but on the basis that Vettel spun because he, I don't know, he was trying to avoid another car that he was trying to overtake whereas Albon just hit it. I'll go to go with Albon. By virtue of not hitting someone. I love that being the reason. I can't argue with both of those names. I'm going to give it to Vettel.

Yeah, it's disappointing when Leclair was able to get all the way up to P4 in qualifying that Vettel couldn't even make Q3 and the race wasn't a great deal better. He just seems to be in a permanent battle with the Alfa Romeo's now, which is partly due to how poor the car is. But at the same time, Leclair, LeClaire wasn't batting them. So, yeah. Sebastian Vetto, it was a poor, poor error going into term one, particularly with the strategy he was on as well.

Obviously, we started on the medium tires. So he could have taken them long into the race, similar to what Gassley did, and that was effective. Grojean, as much as we joke about Roman Bollard, he did go quite far into the Grand Prix, core points. So, yeah, Sebastian Vessel.

I would also like to say, and I feel like, actually, no, Kimmy doesn't care that it's his 323rd race start, so I'm not going to care either. So he's in contact as well. Yeah, it was a poor performance from him, really, and Jervinazzi managed to grab a point and was ahead pretty much the entire weekend as well. Qualifying, there was, I think, five positions between them in the race.

Antonio went on to a two-stop strategy. Kimmy was on the one-stop at the time the safety car came out. But yeah, that punterino into George Russell wasn't his best moment by far. So those three can share the spoils. And what was your moment of the race, Sam? Tough one. Big moment for me was the lockup from Bottas and Hamilton's siding in front.

I still think there's a real fight between these two when they actually get together. I think it's really fun to see how much those two are willing to go wheel to wheel. But the respect they have for each other. So for me, that was absolutely brilliant. The other moment was the retirement of Albon, when all of a sudden, there's nothing wrong with the car, you've messed up the size twice, and yet you're the one no longer driving around either.

It's just a bit telling for maybe what Red Bull are thinking about that second seat. So for me, there's a good fight moment, and there's a long term is something going on behind the scenes moment. Moment of the race, Harry? It has to be when Crofti said, Porte Oster, you have something to say. No, I don't. And then Crofti was like, I'm just hearing things.

I'll shut up. So that's smart. No. Another good one was also when Grojean broke his finger, apparently. That's not good. Well, not. I don't mean a good moment, but, you know, he's just like, I think I broke my finger. And then we never heard about it again.

Because he's gutsy Grosjean, not Roman Bollard anymore. Heroic Roman Bollard. I love you, mate. Good God. I'm going to say, what should I go with? slightly cheating because it happened after the race, but Mick Schumacher handing over his dad's, one of his dad's Mercedes helmets to Lewis.

That was a pretty epic moment. Actually, on the track, an epic moment was how Nicholas Latifi and Danny Kavilla, at least judging by the timing screens, had the Battle of the Century in the last five laps, and we didn't see one bit of it. I'm sure on Twitter we're going to be able to see like a five-minute video of them going,

back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Well, but yeah, we were treated to absolutely none of it on the actual stream in the race. So I'll give those two a mention because they deserve it. They won't get a mention elsewhere. Also, I've just seen a very interesting stat for everyone goes everywhere. Mika Holgerberg has scored more points in the last seven races than Sebastian Vettel. Yikes.

10 points to 8. That tells you a lot, folks. At least Vettel's getting that car next year. You're getting that whip? Could you imagine, like, this time last year, knowing that Nika Holkenberg doesn't have a seat this year and knowing that Ferrari last year were, you know, taking wins. Imagine saying this time last year,

so next year, Holkenberg, in two races, is going to outscore Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari in seven, and it's going to be 10 to 8. That's pretty remarkable. Pretty remarkable. All from grace. Anyway, let's move on. Valtrey Bottas didn't have the best Sunday after a pretty good Saturday.

He outqualified Vastappan and Hamilton, both of which were in contention for pole by about two and a half tenths of a second, but he couldn't convert it into a race win. He did manage to hold on to the lead through turn one just about, but he ended up losing that lead later on in the race. before retiring with a very rare reliability issue for the Mercedes guys. So, Harry, do you think this happened at pretty much the worst time for Bottas after he was looking to build momentum after his win last time?

I mean, yeah, I don't think that he would have been able to regain this championship, but, you know, after Saturday, he really pulled it out of the bag. That's a big margin to beat Lewis Hamilton by over one lap. that's, you know, the most successful qualifier in history of F1. And then Bottas did him by, you know, two tenths of a second. So, yeah, big Saturday. And then even at the start when I was like, oh, God, he's lost the lead, like, for, you know, here we go again for Bottas.

And then he pulled it back, like, in turn two. And, you know, even Hamilton said he was like, damn. Like, fair play. Like, didn't see that one coming. So, yeah, the lockup, I don't think, well, he obviously then had to pit. And he lost a fair bit of time to Hamilton. you know, who knows what that would have gotten, Botas on the, you know, a different strategy.

But, yeah, it is, if we didn't think it was game over now, which we already did, it definitely is now. It's 70 points. So, yeah, and I think it might, it would just have killed that momentum that Botas seemed to have got this weekend after the win in Russia. And, you know, it seemed to be on, the momentum seemed to be on his side.

But, yeah, look, he, in all likelihood, he probably wouldn't have been, able to get back past Hamilton again, unless Hamilton made a mistake. And we know those are pretty rare. So it kind of all came undone with a lockup. But yeah, it's a shame. I hope I'm wrong. I hope the momentum, you know, Bottas can still take that form into the next race. But, yeah, it's a bit of a blow for him. Sam, what did you make of Bottas' weekend? And yeah, similar question. Do you think that this was about as badly timed a retirement as he can get? This weekend for Bottas was very much like his overall form when it comes to races, especially in the last season or so.

It starts well. You have a flash in the pan of greatness. He grabbed qualifying and deservedly so. He was the better man on the final run in Q3. He saved it all up for the right moment and delivered a fantastic lap. And then it was a bit dodgy off the line. Hamilton looks to have got him from. But again, Hamilton takes his cap off and says, where can that come from? I'm impressed. And he fought back and that was great to see. And then about 10 laps later, it was a bit naf again, wasn't it? It's the same with Bottas. He has a great wing. It's a great moment.

He celebrates it. It tells all his hate at swear words over a radio after being given a wing via proxy. And then the next moment he has to prove himself, he throws it away. The lockup was poor. The time management was again from Bottas poor. We've seen it multiple times throughout the whole season that Bottas' time management is not to the level of Lewis Hamilton's time management. Go back to Silverstone, where the punctures came for both.

guys, but Hamilton's came right at the moment where he needed it was ever going to be needed. Bottas ruined his race, lost the whole race, whole race, haul of points. Here, there has to pit, of course, under normal conditions, ruins a strategy. We'll have had to afford pass the staffing anyway because of that. So I think the race win was gone regardless of whether he'd DNF whatsoever. But if you are going to then get a DNF, yeah, you're trying to build that momentum. he gets pole, he wins the last race. You know, it is looking like it's on the up.

Even if he doesn't win this race, it's another good thing to take away. The points is still minimalizing. You know, that maximizing the points you can take and minimalizing damage, that's what you want to do. And for any driver who is even any contention of the world title to have a DNF when your teammate goes on to win the race and claim all 25 points, that is heartbreak for any race driver.

So, yeah, it sucks. And I think that Hamilton, I think we've got what, six races left to go. I think Hamilton can win the championship if he wins the next three races. I think that's Dan and Dustin, pretty much. So, you know, we'll see. We'll see what happens. But yeah, pretty tough times of Bottas and that is championship

pretty much sewn up. Yeah, I've said since the beginning, I think this is Hamilton's championship and I don't think Bottas has any chance of winning, but this was a really disastrous result. Just because it was imagine if it happened the other way round and it was Lewis Hamilton that had claimed Lewis Hamilton had the DNF

and Bottas had claimed the victory. Then suddenly Bottas is within one race win of Lewis Hamilton. He'd still need an extra stroke of good luck, but he would have been in striking range about 20 points or so. As it happens, it's a 50 point swing and suddenly Lewis Hamilton can have a couple of DNFs and probably get away with it. I said before the race that I don't think Bottas will win

because he's proven time and time again that he can't follow up race victories and he really struggles to build momentum. And the annoying thing is he actually got fairly close to, he got fairly close to dispelling that. But yeah, in Bottas style, I guess, he managed to return to his normality. And let's face it, he messed it up for himself. You know, the DNF cost him a podium. It costs him probably 15 points.

But it didn't cost him the race win unless something spectacular had happened. And Bottas, he had this. If Bottas had retired from the leader of this race, I would say fair enough. There's nothing he can do there. He's very unlucky. But he lost this for himself with that error down into term one. But it is mixed emotions because there were good signs this weekend. That's probably the most annoying thing from his perspective,

is that it wasn't a lost cause. The qualifying performance on Saturday was very impressive, particularly after Q2, Vastappan and Hamilton held a significant advantage over him. At that point, you're thinking, okay, Bottas is going to go back into this regular pattern of being too far behind Lewis Hamilton. He's going to qualify half a second behind. He's going to finish 15 seconds behind and back to normality. The annoying thing is that's not how it went down. And Bottas did a brilliant job of recovering in Q3 and put together a fantastic lap to beat both for Stauffin and Hamilton. This was probably the first time this season it felt like a three-person fight for that pole position.

The race as well, the start of the race. Again, another test for Bottas that he passed. Lewis Hamilton got the better start of the two. He had the inside line. Bottas, you know, Hamilton didn't quite judge Turn 1 correctly, went too deep. But Bottas held that. He's stuck in there. He held his line and he was able to come back at him.

And we've said on a few occasions, not just this season, that Bottas can struggle to show enough grit on that first corner and on that first lap. Today was the complete opposite. He was able to show that he will stick it in there. He will stay there. He won't be pushed aside. And he was able to maintain that lead.

So that's probably the most frustrating thing is that qualifying was a test that he passed. The first corner was a test that he passed. And then he goes, probably the easiest part, was maintaining that lead. He was out on his own. and it was only going to change if he made an error, which he did. So it's very frustrating.

Look, I don't think the championship was ever on, so I can't say that now I think it's off, but mathematically speaking it is a mountain to climb now. It's a real shame. It's a real shame. But Bottas, he can at least take heart from what he was able to do at the beginning of the race and in qualifying. And just to quickly touch on as well, we've already spoken briefly about Roman Ballard

and how he managed to claim two points. And Antonio Giovenazi as well managed to claim a points. You've got two under-fire drivers there who, ironically, Kalamilat was lined up to do a practice session for Hass and Mick Schumacher was lined up to do a practice session for Alfa Romeo. And the two people who are arguably under the most pressure responded with points finishes. Sam, do you think that this will affect their standing whatsoever?

I think it will affect Hugh Verhaz's standing. more than I think it will affect Grojean's standing. Grogong has had plenty of time to assert himself, to show that he's better than Magnuson, to show that he's the one that, you know, should stay around while the other one maybe gets the shop. Both those horse drivers have had more than long enough to get there. And the same thing applies with what happened to Holgerberg, right?

The amount of DNS that happened in front of them was just, was flattering. It deceived the end result. I don't think Giovanni or Grojong get that. those points finishes if Norris stays in and Botas stays in and Okong stays in, you know, it makes them look better than they were. And they were good drives. Don't get me wrong. Groh has done a great job with his broken finger.

Giavanazzi also did a great job to beat Kimi Riking. And honestly, in a perfect world, I would take Giovannioreen that seat for another season over Kimmerichin. Kimmer Riking has done and dusted. For me, move him on. He's a waste of a seat. He sees it just as a hobby. I don't think that's fair now when there are so many people who will.

are committed to this life as a crew passion. They love it. It's what they live for. And Kimmy just sees it as something I do on a weekend. I'm kind of done with that attitude. Put something else in their next to Giovanni for a season. If the rookie beats Giovanni in their first year, then you know that Givansi's had his time and you can swap him out.

But give those two a go together. Would that be Schemacher or Iler or Schwarzen, whenever you want to do it, give that a go for me. I also think that maybe Grogens hang his time. We know Grogens at a strong racer. We know he's had some great moments in the past. But I think he's also had his time in trying to prove himself.

Magnuson's got a bit of time left on his belt. I think Magnuson could do it another season in a car that might perform. But Grojan, I think Tang is moment. I think we'll do brilliantly in either Indycar or World Indyric Championship. I think it'd be great in either. But again, get a rookie in that seat next to someone. You know, whether that be Perez, if you maybe doesn't get the move to Red Bull or Holkenberg or Magnuson or Magnus.

With a new release of life. But for me, Grojan Tag is time. Giavacchi maybe, for me, I'm talking real maybe, because I still think it was flattering today, gets one more season alongside a rookie. Harry, do you think those respective performances from Gorozian and Jovenatsi help them at all for reclaiming their seat? I think it's actually the opposite way around to what sounds there, because I think Giavenatsi's fate is completely out of his hands now. I think it depends on whether Kimmy retires. If Kimmy retires, he's in that seat alongside Mick, Shumaka next year.

If Kimmy stays on, then Mick's going to replace Giovannazzi. I'm pretty sure that's how that's going to go. Whereas for Gorojan, I'm not saying it makes a huge difference, but at least it's maybe slightly stood in his hands, and he's probably well aware that Guntus Steiner only likes employing the same drivers for eternity. So he's probably aware that a good result beating your teammates score and a couple of points with a broken finger will stand in a good stead. I'm not saying it will make the difference.

I think maybe Grojan is going out at the end of this year, and he'll go and do something else, as Sam said, maybe IndyCar. He's already, you know, spoke of his interest of the Pojo's entry into the 2022 World Endurance Championship. So maybe he'll go and do that as well. But, yeah, so I think Giovannazzi could do, if Giovanni could win a race, and I don't think it just depends on what Kimmy does, whereas Grojan at least maybe has a bit of a say in it.

But, yeah, I don't think it will make too much of a difference, to be honest, the performances today. Yeah, I would agree with that assessment of Javanasi, which is a bit of a shame because I do I do understand the logic in having Kimmy there if you are going to have Mick Schumacher in the other seat, mentor him for a year. Yeah, if Ferrari are going to have high hopes of him. So, yeah, I understand why they would have that mixture of experience and youth. and I'm sure the marketing team wouldn't turn down on Reichen and Mick Schumacher partnership. But it is a shame because Antonio Chauvinatsi's had a good, I don't want to say have a good year, but I think he's been on a par with Reikinen. Whereas last season, and again, this is going back to the whole progression thing,

where drivers come into seats and you want to see them, you want to see where they get to. You want to see where they were at the start and you want to see that improve as time goes on, which I think has been the case for Gervinazzi. more often than not qualifying is pretty close week in week out you had a very good performance this time out and in the race i think he's getting there still think rikinen holds a minor edge but i don't think it's much at all um so yeah i think it is a bit of a shame but i don't think this this point is going to is going to do much for him in terms of the hast drive i mean roman bollard as inspirational as that drive was heroic nothing short of that i don't

don't think he's going to have much of a bearing or whether he gets his seat again or not. Ultimately, we know what we get with Roman Groson. He's been around the sport for, it's been over 10 years since his debut. He's been a regular in the sport for a number of years now. You know exactly what you're going to get with him. He's not going to show anything now that we haven't seen before, which is good when it comes to assessing a driver. There's no surprises.

There's no spills. Grojeon is exactly what you would expect of him. So I don't think, I don't think claiming a point, what, claiming two points is going to, it's going to make much of a difference for him. Maybe he does retain the role just because that has, you know, I think they will. They do seem determined to keep that partnership. I think, in all honesty, they will keep at least one of those drivers because of how much of a diva that has been.

We know that it's been, it's had a lot of problems. They basically had two different cars on the go at the same time last year. And those two drivers, if nothing else, they understand what's going on with it. And that experience could be valuable to an extent. I don't think it's valuable enough to keep both of them around, but it might be valuable to keep one of them around. Realistically, unless Grosjeon goes on a very good run at the end of this year, I think Magnusson's got the advantage in that respect.

So I don't think claiming two points is going to change great. Before we go today, just a quick discussion on the Nurbogring, because of course it was the first time we've been. in there for seven years. Harry, do you think that the Nuremberg ring should be a permanent fixture, at least a semi-permanent fixture on the calendar? Well, Ben, I feel rude me doing this first, because obviously you are the most passionate Nurberg-Ring fan there ever was.

So I'll be brief. Absolutely. And there's been ideas discussed over the weekend, whether we should have, like, guest races and bring back a couple of old tracks each year. and we said this in the preview podcast about, you know, when we were talking about the potential race in Brazil, is in Rio? I can remember.

And saying, there are so many decent old tracks that we can go to, such as the NERBOR ring that we don't need that. So, yeah, but yeah, I would 100% be down for keeping the NERBO ring. I have the NERBERBERB ring and Hockenheim. I like both of those tracks there,

and they always have good, if not great races. So, yeah, definitely keep the Nuremberg ring on there. I would be happy if they could stump up the money or F1 gave them a break if they went back to swapping the German GP each year. Like they had been doing in between Hock and Humberg ring. I think that worked well. And at least it keeps both tracks on the calendar in some form. So, yeah, thumbs up from me.

Keep the Nureberg ring every year. Thumbs up from you as well, Sam. that track has got so much personality hasn't it i mean you can see the bumps in the track it's not it's not i think brundle said it in qualifying i don't want to drive on a billiard table right that there's so much room for the stake around the herberg ring there's gravel almost every corner sorry roman um you know there there's bumps and cracks and little hubs everywhere they're breaking with undulation is crazy the weather you can see how it's it's you can see how it's tentative some of these drivers were world-class drivers were struggling to get the car going

around certain corners. Even the pit lane has tying up and downs going for it. The track is so much quality and personality and the drivers love it, the fans love it, and yeah, do exactly as Harry just said. Alternate it with Hockenheim. Both are incredible races. I'd love to have both on the track on the season, sorry, every single season. Get them on the calendar. They're both brilliant Grand Prix. But if it does mean that we've got to have the Nuremberg one year, Hocking High and the next,

I'm okay with that, because you know you're going to get at least a better than average Grand Prix, at least a better than average Grand Prix. And that is a lot more than you can say for a lot of Grand Prix. Soxia, we're looking at you. So, yeah, big thumbs up.

I loved it. Again, the race we've just had wasn't the most groundbreaking race all time. It wasn't the most electric, classic, whoever we're going to think about. But it was a good Grand Prix. It was exciting. No one's mistakes. It was fun.

So I want more of that. So please, please, please consider it. If Chase Carrey, you're listening to this or Stephanie Wanga Kali, I know you are. Give it a go. Just for us, boys, please. Thank you. Off you go, Ben. Here we go. The Nureberg Ring is actually God in the circuit form. If you didn't know that already. I love the Nuremberg Ring so much.

It's a great circuit. They proved it for those who weren't aware of it before. All of these modern... And, you know, we already know which ones I'm talking about here. These modern circuits just have no character whatsoever. The undulation and the character of the Nuremberg ring is on full display. And today just prove what a great race it can provide. That turn 1, 2, 3 complex is brilliant.

It enables, you know, moves to happen into turn 1. And with the DRS, it actually works fairly well at the moment because it gives the opportunity to pass into term one. But it's also not two miles long that the move is done on the start finish line. All the moves are still mostly done into the corner. And that's not it. There is the potential to fight back as we saw with Bottas versus Hamilton and Leclair versus Ricardo. And that battle can continue on for a few more corners. The rest of the lap is wonderful as well.

So I really, really think we should return here again and again, especially with the new car. I'd love to see the new cars go around there as well. I think that could be an amazing spectacle. In terms of the Grand Prix sharing agreement, I've been banging on about this for years now. I really think it's something the FIA should look at. And I think this season has been evidence that they definitely should look at it. my ideal would be to have a 20 race calendar and have say 12 or 13 permanent fixtures and then have the other seven and eight as alternate races.

So you could have that with Germany with Hockenheim in the Nürberg ring. You could alternate a second Italian Grand Prix between Imola and Mugelo or whatever you like, really. It means we get more circuits on the calendar on a regular basis without over-inflating the calendar to the point where it's unrealistic. You know, if we can't go to 25, 26 races per year, it's just not going to work. So to have that sort of alternating, to have these circuits on an alternate basis would be brilliant. And the Nürberg ring would fit in lovely with that. We know that there's been financial issues before with the Nureberg ring and not having the German Grand Prix there because of it.

And the track sharing agreement was financially led to begin with. But yeah, what a circuit. What a circuit. it, I will be writing a strongly worded letter to Mr. Domenicali, if that is your real name. Mr. Sunby. I would be scared. I think they need to wrung and hard. Ben's coming for you.

How strong. Mr. One. Right. Well, after that, I think it's a good time to get out of here. So, Sam, if you wouldn't mind doing the honors. Thank you very much for listening. to our podcast and please continue to join us. We've got Wayne more camera and have another one later

in the week and of course we'll then be back next week for the preview of Port Domau. The first ever F1 appearance in that Portuguese track. Looking forward to that, I think that would be quite exciting but we'll be back and forth later in the week. We'll just some more F1-Chiccia. Other videos on YouTube as well will be going out. We've got a good about Kimi Reichen about him breaking the record of course

this weekend we've just had so keep your eye to feel about soon. Let's know what you think. Join us on Twitter at El Breaking. In the meantime, I've been Ben Hawking. and I've been how he eat. And remember, keep breaking light. Podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.