The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Hamilton thinks the Red Bull is the most dominant car ever - is he right?

Episode Date: March 22, 2023

Following a second dominant race win in Saudi Arabia, the LB Boys discuss Lewis Hamilton's comments about the RB19, give their thoughts on the Red Bull Ring in Austria being given a contract extension, and play F1: Order Please... VOTE for us in the Sports Podcast Awards: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-motorsports-podcast/ SUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebraking JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAm JOIN our F1 Fantasy League: https://fantasy.formula1.com/en/leagues/join/C3CCEW8P704 TWEET us @LBraking BUY our merch: https://late-braking-f1-podcast.creator-spring.com/ EMAIL us at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! 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 tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam's age, and me, Ben Hocking. Back with another episode, not Race Week, unfortunately, but the three of us are here to tie you over nonetheless. Sam, obviously the most important question comes first. What are you fuelled up on today? Pizza!

Yeah, I have... Yummy! Pizza! Yeah, I have pizza. But folks, I had a little treat after my pizza. I had some sour jelly, sour cherry jelly. It's really hard to say really quickly. Sour cherry jelly.

Very tasty. Very nice little snack to top me off there. It was good. A lovely little dinner. A little bonnet. Appetit for me, you know? A little bon appetit. Come on.

Boney apple teeth. Bung an apple teeth. Del Boy over it. It was good. It's very clear. Like, we had the perfect late breaking conversation before we started recording, which, as the two guys know, it wasn't us singing the theme song of a TV show. which we also did.

But there was a discussion before that where myself and Harry were at least somewhat engaged in a semi-level conversation about screws and getting things to work and Sam's in the corner eating his jelly. If you ever need to picture mentally what Lake Breaking Headquarters looks like. The chances are one of us is forgotten something

so Harry and Ben will try and fix it and I tend to be in the corner either with nuggets or whirly bars or in this case jelly. So, you know, that's the life of late Monday. It was literally, it was literally me and Ben were online before we's down recording, trying to look for, it's a long story. We need a different screw for something, some of our equipment.

And then Sam Kimmel, I was like, what are you doing? It would be explained. And he's like, oh, I'm just going to eat my jelly then. I'll speak to me. I can't have any input. I can't keep me jelly. If this conversation doesn't tell you that we could use some help, I don't know what will. So we could use some help, can we some?

We could indeed. That's a great segue, by the way. Thank you. That was fantastic. Folks, this is a very exciting opportunity slash moment, I guess, for someone out there, hopefully listening. We are looking for a late-breaking podcast producer

to come and join us. That's right. We're opening the late-breaking doors. It's like Charlie Chalkoutreux, you know, Woody Wonka's factory. You've got to get a golden ticket to get inside. Going off and a tangent. The point is, we hear a pre-year-old.

producers come on board. It will be a episode by episode basis and we need someone who's also got some skills with video editing and we love it if it was a listener of the podcast, someone who knows the show who likes what we create. And you can help us with, you know, scheduling some content, with editing some video content, we'll help us with some social stuff. And then maybe with some organizational elements as well, you get welcoming behind the curtain and get to know what goes on with life at late breaking. So if you are interested, I'm going to see if I get this email address right, because it's very new, could you please email podcast at latebreaking.com. com.

He's nailed it. I nailed it. There you go. Please could you email like a little CV, who you are, you know, and if you have, it's not essential, but if you have got any prior work in this environment, whether it it be editing or producing something, stick it on there as well. It only helped you onwards, but it's not essential. If you want to get involved regardless, please email.

now podcast at latebreaking.com. with who you are, your little application, why you're going to be the producer of the show, and we'll come back to you if we think that's a right fit. That's it for now. We'll get on with the real show. I also just want to say, sorry, Ben, it takes the editing away from me,

thank God, but more importantly, it takes the responsibility of adding links into the description away from me, which, as everyone who listens, knows I always forget. So, please email in. If you've ever looked in a description and thought, where's the link that they referred to? And you're so annoyed to the point where I could do that myself.

This is where you step in and do it yourself. Cheers, guys. Take away from Harry. So in terms of today's show, we're going to be discussing Austria back on the calendar until at least 2027. Our reaction to that news, Lewis Hamilton claiming that the 20203 Red Bull is the most dominant car he's ever seen, whilst the part of Formula One. Does he have a point? But we'll start with looking at out-of-contract drivers at the end of 2023. So currently, based on our estimation, there are seven drivers that are out-of-contract at the end of this year. They are the two Alpha Tauri drivers, Nick DeVries and Yuki-Sanoda,

the two hash drivers of Kevin Magnuson and Nika Holcomberg, Logan Sargent of Williams, Jo Guanyu of Alpha Romeo, and finally Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. So we're going to have a quick game of stay, move or out, very catchy indeed. To determine this, Sam, I wish I had a jingle for it. At this juncture, what we think is going to happen to each of these drivers, are they going to stay at their current team for 2024, are they going to move to another team, or are they going to be out of the sport altogether? So since we've got seven, I think we'll make this fairly snappy for each one.

We'll start with the Alfatari drivers. Sam, Yuki Sanoda, Lake Breaking Hall of Famer. what's he doing? I think it's time for him to move out, I think. What are the three options again? Stay, move out or what? Leave. Yeah, those are the three.

Oh, right. Stay, move out or leave. The rules aren't, you know, this is not a normal game. It's a state, move or out. Oh, get out then. Sorry, Yuki. Despite you putting in one of your best drives, I think, in Saudi Arabia, if we had to make the decision right now on, you know, previous form and where I think you're going,

it just hasn't been enough, I'm afraid. So for me, out. Good, good. Had to get the Yuki, the Yuki screaming there once. Yuki Sonoda, Harry, what's he doing in 2024? Is he staying at Al-Fatari? Is he going somewhere else, or is he out of the sport? I think he's going to be, I think he's going to stay at Al-Fatari. I think they might give him one more chance

because as we've seen with Nick DeFries, there are options at Alphatari slash the Red Bull Junior programme as a whole seem a little bit limited. And that might just be a UK saving grace. So I'm not saying they don't have options, but I think they might just help him. He needs to have a good year.

Be good at all the races. He's pretty good at the last one. I mean, the screen made it the best thing ever. But yeah, I think he's just going to hang on by the skin of his teeth. I mean, it has a great year. I think he's definitely going to stay. So, yeah, he'll be there next year. So is it almost by virtue?

Well, true. He's doomed now. You think by virtue of them not having like the next max for Stappen waiting in the wings. That's what, above all else, might save him. I mean, yeah, well, look, Danny Kaffia got brought back into that team for two years. I often forget that. He was there in 2020, do you remember?

The old man. Yeah. He's like 28, but yeah. Boy, so am I. I was the one that called him old. Buckar off, a pair of you. So, I mean, we've already got a difference in opinion. Harry thinks that he might cling on.

Sam thinks he might be heading out. I am going to go with Sam on this one. My prediction here is that Yuki Sanoda will be out of a drive by the end of this season. I think at this point, he's probably had enough time to know whether it's going to happen or it's not going to happen. We know Al-Fatari is all about that progression to Red Bull. And whilst there isn't an immediate need for a seat, unless Perez and Vostappen try and kill each other at some point this year,

which isn't out of the question. It doesn't look as if there's going to be a seat there, but at some point they want the next driver to be ready to go through to Red Bull, and it's becoming evident. I think that Yuki Snow is probably not that driver. He's had an okay start to this year, but I do think they're F2 options.

Whilst none of them jump off the pages, yes, that's going to work. there are a number of drivers, Dennis Hauger, Owasa, you might want to take a chance on one of those drivers at this point, or even, you know, not F2 at the moment, but Liam Lawson, you know, he's going to be doing super formula this year. You might at this point say, we don't have much to lose by giving one of these drivers a go if you know that Yuki Sonoda isn't going to make it. Also, the appeal of Yuki Sanoda partially, of course, is a young Japanese driver. Your engine manufacturer while labeled Red Bull Power trains is currently still

technically Honda. It helps to have that relationship there with the driver from that region. Iwasa, of course, is a young Japanese driver. And if you've got someone who's not fulfilling their potential, while there's another driver who, I believe, won their first feature race

or something very, very recently in F2, may as well give him a shot because Yuki's had his time. As much as I love the little chap, he's not really excelling. On the other side of the garage, Sam, Nick DeVries, what do you reckon what happened to him? He is Alga here.

I think that DeVries goes before, Yuki goes, it is not good enough at all. I don't care if he's... You think he's gone before the end of the season or... No, no, not more in the season, but I think if they had to make a decision to free up one seat before the other, I think Nick DeVries goes first. I think just because of the age thing and in theory, I think Yuki is probably a more valuable asset long term for them, you know, whether he goes back to something like

a super formula, whether he goes and races elsewhere and carry on under the Red Bull name. I think Yuki can have some proper value for the Red Bull family. Nick DeBree's is a last minute pickup. He already, in the first few races, has not delivered in comparison to Yuki. I know there's time. It's his first season, but still, it hasn't been very promising. And obviously, age isn't on his side either. He is the same age as me.

He's a month older than I am. And quite frankly, we're not exactly on high value when we hit this point. So I think one of those younger drivers, Iwasa, Hauger, is what he mentioned, there's a couple of them already mentioning in the podcast. I think they're going to come in. I think it makes sense for them to coming at the end of this season. I have vested interest in Nick DeVries sticking around for as long as possible just because of the fact that you said there, Sam, that he's a month older than you, which means he's older than all three of us. And if there's someone in F1 who is older than all three of us, that makes us feel a little bit okay.

The moment where there's no one older than us in F1 is going to be a dark, dark day. So Nick DeVries can help extend that day into the future as long as possible. having said that, I think he's out. I actually also think that they might go with a double switch here, Al-Fa-Tauri, which is pretty rare in the world of Formula One, but if any team's going to do it, it would be Al-Fatari, I think, just based on Nick DeVries has a chance to be solid, similar to your points. I mean, it has a chance to be okay,

but that's not what Al-Fatari is about. You know, that might be all right for Hass, and it might be okay for Williams, but for Al-Fa-Tauri where they're looking to cultivate the next generation, it doesn't quite work. And I think it was a bit, this does feel a bit of a, we need someone.

Colton Herta potentially didn't work out, whereas they might have had him in the seat. Don't know on that. I don't know. I can't see it extending. Of course, this is early projections. He might turn around the next three races

and be excellent, but at this point, I think he's out. Harry? Yeah, I think he's out too, sorry, Nick. going back to what I said about they don't have many options. Nick DeFries

feels just like a bit of a filler for a year, doesn't he? Yeah. He's the extra bit of salad you put in your sandwich that you don't really want. Oh, Harry. Yeah, look,

it was a rogue choice from Alphatar. I'm not saying rogue because he's not like good driver, but just a bit out there from Alpheteru to go for Nick DeFries. And again, I think it speaks to the sort of limited options they have on the table at the moment. So for me, I think they'll then try one of the younger drivers next year instead of DeFries. I think that's the only reason. I think DeFries could have a good year, a great year, and they might still get rid of him. Yeah. Yeah, it's one of those where it's not even really a direct insult to Nick DeVries, right? It's just that's the team and what

their approaches and what they're all about. So, and the good news is Nick DeVries, if we all think you're out, you're definitely in. So good luck in 2024. Let's move to Williams, because whilst Alex Albin, we think, is locked in longer than this year, we are pretty sure that Logan Sargent isn't. So his debut year, of course. Harry, Logan Sargent, at this early point in the year, what's your read? I mean, I know we're two races in, but I'd say,

stay? I think he's... You think they'll give him another year. Has he embarrassed himself? I wouldn't say he's embarrassed himself. I mean, the qualifying in Saudi was a bit dodged. But, you know, that's race two of his F1 career. I don't think he's embarrassed himself. I don't think he's

looked slower than Latif he was last year, if we're being honest. I think he's looked pretty recently. Oh, he's been far quicker. Yeah. Like, Miles quicker. Yeah, so I think, I think, stay. If they're going to, they're serious about bringing

sergeant on. They can't expect him to suddenly be beating Albonne straight away. But I think if he carries on the way he's done in the first two races, again, Saudi qualifying aside, then yeah, I think you'll stay. I'm going to ask a question

here and there's probably going to be a really obvious answer that I'm going to be missing and I'm going to look really silly. Obviously, Nikita Mazepin only did one season for Hass, but he was going to do two. Like, that was the intention. When was the last time a rookie driver was gone after one year?

I mean, you're asking the two of us. Sorokkin. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, is there one since him? Just for it, that's a good sort of five, six years, right? That there hasn't been a... Harry Anto was a while ago. Yeah, a little bit before Sorokkin.

Yeah. It's just an interesting one in that actually, no, regardless of where, him has been deserved a second year or not, and I guess technically he never did, but again, the attention was going to be there. I, based on that, and also cuts to some of your points, Harry, I think they'll keep him, and I think they'll keep him for a second year. Williams don't have any F2 drivers in their Driver Academy, which is pretty helpful. And, you know, whilst Albin is, you know, Albin seems set as the present and the future,

almost of the team, like he's good enough that he is the present, whilst also still being young enough to be the future. I don't see any reason to replace him at this point. It's a good start. And I think really a good start is enough for a rookie year. So yeah, I'm going to say they'll keep him. What about you, Sam? I'm going to quote Bono when talking to Lewis Hamilton trying to come into the pit lane. In, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, that man 100% deserves to still be in that seat. And they will keep him. Williams are building. Look at what they're doing already. James Vow has comes in. They're trying to fill in more technical high-end roles. There's rumours of them talking about potential power trains and sponsorship coming

through. They also need to make sure that they have a young, exciting driver line-up. Albano is the right person to lead that. And Mr. Sargent is doing a very, very good job of ensuring that he is the young, exciting version. Also, marketability-wise, if they could build that team up and they've got a young American who can deliver strong results, it's a great way to grow the brand even further. It makes total sense to keep him in there. I do want to see a single other option that makes any sense to go to that William C. Keep him there.

Let's go to Jo Guanyu. What do you reckon, Harry? Tricky one. I'm going to say stay. I don't know. Again, this goes back to Alfa Tau. No, sorry,

Alfa Romeo and they're in this weird limbo what are you doing there phase and that might just help Jirguan Yu and I'm not saying he's disgraced and I'll think far from it and he may well build on that this year but he may not even need to because

for Alpha Romeo what's the point in like bringing on another driver? Are you going to unless Audi have some influence here already which by next year will they are, it's unsure. Out for a male, I guess, they can have a free reign for a couple more years. And they don't need to necessarily bring a driver to start nurturing at this stage for the Audi step of that team in 2020. So I think it'll stay.

But just kind of out of like, well, what's the point changing? That's not an insult to show I knew. That's just what I get the impression of. Yeah, I also said he's going to stay here. It could go either way, I think, but just based on Alfaumeo, having given Jövanazzi three years before and Reichen and three years before, where you could argue with both of those, they deserve the third year, don't know.

I think they give Shoguan Yu the third year. It does feel like he is on the precipice, like generally. Oh, God. Jesus. Oh, God. How he's gone. He's got his juice. His juice has got the wrong way down.

It's all. I'm trying so hard to mute it, mate. Oh, he still can't mute himself. We're all hearing him cough. You're right, mate. I'm a mess. I'm very sorry, folks. I really tried hard not to try and mute myself then,

but I didn't reach the button end of time. It was a good effort. Oh, yes. Are you all right? You're okay? You're right, yeah. I'm just choking on me, Rybina. Oh, excuse.

Yeah, to conclude that point, I think he stays. That'll do. What do you reckon, Sam? Sorry, Ben. I think this is the hardest one of the lot to make a decision on, and I very much think it depends on two things. Firstly, it... And funny enough, for me of those things is actually Joe Wang News performance.

If he carries on doing as he is, if there are no other variables, I think he stays. But he's got two external variables I think they could decipher whether he gets to stay or not. The first one, of course, is the Audi ownership. Now, do you remember, Ben, I imagine you remember slightly more than Harry does due to your knowledge of old school F1? Do you remember when Renault brought in Eddie Cheever alongside Alan Prost? And one of the reasons they brought Eddie Cheever in was because he was American and they want to sell more Renault in America, right?

The big thing about Joe Guan Yu is he's a Chinese driver. Now, Audi coming in, may want to have a young Chinese representative that is great for marketability in their car that while they settle into the sport, is doing a more than capable job. And Joe Guan Yu is doing more of a capable job, right? He has outdone Bottas at the start of this season so far. He's qualifying better than he did last season already. He's putting in comfortable, good performances.

Well done, Joe Gwangman. So if that's the case, very good. The other side of Audi is other talent that they have access to. And that entirely depends on if Taylor Porcère carries on his junior formula success in the same way he's begun his F2 season this year. This is final year in F2, so everyone thinks, he's become very, very well. And if Audi look at that performance, who are going to become the primary stakeholders of this team, and go, well, we won him in our team.

and they will probably get the say over the management because why wouldn't they? It makes a lot of sense that they get the deciding vote on the driver that's going to be in the team for the couple of years when they come into the sport. So I think Joe Guangyu keeps doing what he's doing. And if they see more value in the Chinese market for the Audi car team, then he gets to stay.

If Teopal She wins the championship is a incredibly dominant, you'll probably go. I think he's going to stay for one more season myself, but only just. Okay, we're going to take a short break and then afterwards we'll be discussing the two hash drivers and Lewis Hamilton. Okay, continuing on our list of seven drivers who are out of contract, we'll now go to the HASS guys.

Let's start with Kevin Magnuson, who's entering the second of his two-year contract with the team. Sam, what's happening to him? I actually think that he 100% stays. I think hars need to ensure there is... 100%. Yeah, 100%. I don't think there's any doubt in it at the moment.

especially if he carries on driving how he did at the back end of Jedder. If he keeps up that level of performance, I mean, he, Maxen has a real bond with Gunter Steiner and the team. They really seem to click and they seem to get each other. And I think they have a very strong relationship. And I think Gunter is one of those people that when he likes you, he really likes you, right? He wants you to be around.

He trusts you. He sees you as a valuable part. And that's why Grosjean got to stay around for so long. I think him and Grosier got along very well. and I think they struggled to let him go for that reason. Magnuson has got that raw ability. On his day, Magnuson is one of the better drivers on the grid. And Haas, in their future direction, need a driver that they can hang on to that will give

them some stability, some growth, some ability in the car direction. Magneson provides that. He's got good experience. So for me, I think there is no doubt that Magnuson stays. I've also gone keep on this one. And to give away my answer for the other hash driver, I think they will go. keep one, drop one. I understand, I think today something came out saying how happy HASS were with having the most experienced lineup on the grid, which is fair enough. Again, they wouldn't say

the opposite, so you can't read too much into it. But having said that, I do think Magnuson stands the better chance of the two drivers of sticking around longer term. They do need to focus on their future at some point. Obviously, they did that two years ago and it didn't exactly work, but this does feel as a line-up, a bit of a temporary fix until the point where they can get someone in who's a bit of a longer-term solution. And Magnuson has been there at the team longer,

so I think he stands a better chance of sticking around. And also, I have him in teammate wars, so he kind of has to beat Holcomburg. Harry, what do you reckon? I also think stick, and I'm probably going to spoil both this, and maybe I'll cover them off in one go. but I think they're both going to stay because

it's just what it's just has things, just what they do. They kept the last really experienced lineup, one of them being Mangason for so long. I don't see why they're going to get rid of this lineup

for a while because the last time they did, they decided to go all rookies and if you notice, it went really well for them. Oh no, no, no, no. No, no. 100, 66. Yeah, it's gone really well, lads.

So on that basis, I think Hasse are going to stick with experience for now because it went so badly when they went for rookies. I don't think they necessarily have the two drivers, Holgerberg and Meng, and need to do that much. But I just think Hasse are going to, Hase are just a bit dull, bit dull with their driver choices. Hang on, sorry, they're a bit dull, until they're not dull and they pick two rookies,

and then they realised that was actually maybe a bad idea, and they've gone back to being dull again. What are they, Sam? They are impostors! That was a classic T-Up, knock it out of the park. There we go. Yeah, so I think they'll get rid of one of them. I think they kind of have to,

and the reason I think they will get rid of Holkenberg is because, related to my previous answer on Jogu, And Sam, you very beautifully put the point on Joe Guan Yu versus Teu Porcère and the debate that they have there. My inkling is that they stick with Zhou Guan Yu releasing Teu Poichet, and that's where Has come in. They swoop in and they take him as their future. Because whilst there are still some question marks about Porcher, if you're watching F2, you can't deny his raw ability.

And I think Hasse might go, we can't pass up on this opportunity. So I'm going to say go for Nico Holcomberg. Great. Great effort from Portiaire in the sprint race, probably in the weekend. Yeah. It is a bit of advice just before I go to you, Sam. Don't do that.

Without the book, the Elby book expands once again. So with a Formula One team, you know, obviously you tend to look for one or two things in a driver. Ideally, you have both, but one or two things. that's either raw talent and ability or cash money. And Holkenberg, in his current stage of his career, doesn't really provide enough of either. Hars are lacking in cash, right?

They are not doing well for money, hence the introduction of Moneygram, that well-known and safe sponsorship that everyone trusts and depends on. But Holgerberg brings consistency. They don't need that next season, if Magerson continues to drive in the same way they're going, so I think they're going to look elsewhere, and I think that these are the reasons why they'll go for these drivers. Ben makes the great point on Taylor-Poscher.

I agree very much so that if Alfa Mayo re-sign Joe Guangyu for next season, that Taylor Poit She's going to look for other options. He's not going to sit around twiddling his thumbs. Hasse are a great option for him to get his head down in the sport and at least turn some hegs elsewhere that maybe he could go further up the grid. It's a great shout. The other two options are one, I don't think they'll go to,

but brings the money factor, which is Pietro Fittipaldi. Of course, he did the test drive for them. He's also done the sitting point where we had the secure outer loop was not a good run for him out there. But hey, people turn their careers around, people grow, people develop.

So you never go, but I really don't think that's a great point for them. I think the money option is not enough to bring him in. The final one is Felipe Drogovic, who of course is currently the reserve driver for Askin Martin. I don't think Druggovich is going on a sit

as Mr Reserve driver for a Formula One team season after season after season after the season. He's an F2 champion. The guys have great experience. He also brings good financial capabilities with sponsorship from his home nation. Again, something Haas are quite happy to pick up where they can. He is probably the great in-between of that talent and money balance, whereas Porcère is more talent and fitter parity is more cash money. I just don't think Holgerberg outweighs any of those options where, especially with Haas, currently sit in what, as the eighth, seventh, eighth best team, and they don't look like

challenging a front area either. You may as well take a risk on something. The other driver is the safe option. The only thing with the Drogovic point, which, you know, it's feasible, the lure of a reserve seat, a reserve driver's seat at Aston Martin is far more now than it was, say, six weeks ago, right? Like, he now is the first guy up to potentially the second best team in the sport, which is not a situation he thought he was going to be in a couple months ago.

It might not still be enough over if he was given an opportunity elsewhere. I'm not saying that that would be the case, but certainly he knows that he is sat behind Fernando Alonzo, who, let's face it, you never quite know what's going to happen with Alonzo's relationship to a team. He's probably okay with where he is at the moment. Not to say that he would turn it down, but I think it was probably more feasible a couple of months ago.

Yeah, no, that's a very, very good point. Would you rather play second fiddle to the second best in the league or drive around in the eighth best car in the league and hope that you get a lucky result? Who knows? But for me, those are the options. I do think, unfortunately, Hulk is a goner. Basically, the situation Ricardo was in, right?

And he went for the, he went for the, well, first best team, I guess, rather than second, but it's kind of the same situation. Mercedes, last one, Lewis Hamilton. I think whilst we're naming this whole topic, stay move or out, for Lewis Hamilton, he's probably the one driver where you can slightly change that because it's more, you know, it's more his choice probably, right? The other six, you're probably thinking it's the team's choice, whether they stay.

With Lewis Hamilton, it's probably his own decision. I don't think, I don't think Mercedes are going to kick him out. Who knows? Sam, what do you reckon? What do you think he does? Yeah, I mean, if you were to make a list of drivers with more power than their teams in terms of these decisions, I think Lewis Hamilton and Max for Staff and promise it very comfortably at the top of this list. Lewis Hamilton has been a Mercedes man in some form or another for over 25 years of his career,

basically since he joined any form of motorsport at all. He's been with Mercedes. I don't see him leaving them anytime soon. The only thing that forces him to leave, we've seen some strange transitions of Lewis Hamilton over the last month or so. He's a very well-known, psychic assistant personal trainer, has left, has been moved on by Lewis, apparently, which is a strange transition, especially at this time of the season. And, of course, he's come out and blamed the team recently and said they need to take accountability. It's not been good enough. So there's clearly some friction internally with Lewis, but I think his desire to win a eighth title or to even win a gang on the track is still more than just throwing in the towel.

So for me, Lewis Hamilton's stage, I think this is by far the easiest one of the lot that we'll discuss. What do you then, Carrie? What does he do? I think his, I don't want to say love, love for F1, but it's a few, a few, you know, tension points in those answers life at the moment. As Sam's already mentioned,

his longtime trainer, physio, Angela Cullen's left. or they've parted ways. And it's not often you hear Hamilton coming out. And the quote's kind of gone around. It's not in context. But he has effectively said the team didn't follow his advice. He didn't listen to him on what they should do with the car. So there's a bit of tension there.

Having said that, I'm with Sam. I think I'll stay. I don't see him throwing in the towel quite that easily. You know, last year was a bad job. year, this year, as it stands, not looking like another championship winning year. And Hamilton is, he's still got years ahead of him, I think, in his career, but he's not at his ultimate peak as a driver. And I think maybe that's weighing on his mind slightly with, you know, the comments he's made.

So, but yeah, having said that, I think I stay, because I just don't think he's going to give it, give it all up just because of a bad couple of years. it's not the first couple of bad years. He's had an F1. So why would he stop now? Yeah, I think he sticks around. I don't think he commits to Mercedes for more than a one-year contract. I don't think he signs a multi-year deal based on the events of the last year and a bit.

And based on what I think is going to happen for the rest of this year, we know that Lewis Hamilton at this point, he wants a race, well, not a race-winning car. He wants a championship-winning car, anything less than that. full short of his expectations. And to this point, before 2020, Mercedes had pretty much without fail given him the opportunity to do that. Now it's going to be two years in a row, probably, where he isn't going to be able to fight for a championship. And so based on that, I don't think he commits to another year. Now, the promise that they are going to ditch this concept for next year and potentially produce a copycat of Red Bull, that should be enough

to make Lewis Hamilton stick around. Certainly, if Toto, Wolf had been early in this season saying, no, we're going to be sticking with this design as much as we possibly can. We know there's something in it. At that point, Lewis Hamilton probably has something to think about, right? Because he doesn't want to be in the situation he's in right now. But certainly if he knows that there is the prospect of Mercedes going down a different path, he isn't going to want to be on the sidelines watching George Russell or his replacement Pascal Verline winning a championship, right? So, you know, at some point, We've got to understand exactly what he's after.

And that eighth championship isn't going to win itself. So I think he is going to have one go at it with that new concept. If that doesn't work, then it might be curtains. Again, I don't think he'll commit to a long-term deal. I don't think the confidence is there. I think he'll try and negotiate some kind of performance-based deal that if, you know, he wins. Let's just say they have a very capacive car and they're alongside, I don't know, whether it be Aston Martin or Red Bull, whoever it might be.

And they win, I don't. Say Lewis wins three races. in the season next year, I think at that point, he'll basically be asked by Toto, you're now have to make a choice whether you're here against year or not. Because in theory,

Lewis has been giving a car that's capable of winning races. I think that's how they'll try and play it. Also, no off as well... Well, we know that last time, contract-wise, he took a while to get there, didn't he? He basically turned up to the first race in Bahrain.

Like, oh, yeah, all right, I'll sign a contract now, I guess. Cheers, Lewis. But who do you put in that seat, right? I mean, who's the obvious choice? I don't think there is one. I think they have to go out and either poke someone. I don't think they have to drive a vesti,

Veschi the bestie, is the right choice for them at the moment. I don't know who they go for. LeCler? Lepland? Lepland, great. Yeah, good. What, Esteban-Ockle. He was there before.

They were foolish to get them. Give it Pierre Ghazley to lend a season. Also, I already said it should be, Pascal Verlain. come on. Oh yeah, true. I ignored that because it was delusional. 2017, baby.

And with that, that's our seven drivers and where we think they're going to go at the end of this season. As usual, let us know where you think we're wrong and where you think we're right. It's probably more of the first topic than there is the second topic. We'll take a short break.

Lewis Hamilton's been saying things about the 2023 Red Bull right after this. That one for ages. Ages, mate. Oh, listen. It sounds like I'm putting the Muppets. So Lewis Hamilton was passed by Max Verstappen during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix,

and it was done with relative ease. There wasn't much of a fight there. There wasn't much of a fight he could put up. And he said, the 2023 Red Bull might be the most dominant car he's ever seen. Now, we know that Lewis Hamilton has been in F1 for this is what is 60.

16th season at this point. It's been around for a long time. He's driven a lot of cars. He's seen a lot of cars. Harry, what did you make of the comment that this is the best he's ever seen? Lewis plus. I knew it.

I knew Harry. I knew it. I can totally understand where Lewis is coming from here because, as they said in commentary, they looked like an F1 car and F2 car when Vestappen flew past. but we're only on race two.

We've not had a whole season here. So, you know, the Red Bull that's kind of fragile. There are things that come into play. Look at qualifying on Saturday as an example of how it can go wrong for the most dominant car. I guess I know Per has still got pole. But things can go wrong in F1 and these sort of things happen. You didn't get poll by a second as well, right?

I mean, he didn't get pole by a second or a second or a second. He got polled by what? A ten for a half was it? Yeah, a standard amount you see in an F1 season from a Ferrari. So, yeah, from that point of view, I think it's too soon to be saying

those sorts of things. And the same goes for you, George Russell, by saying they're going to win every race this season. But also, Lewis, did you forget about your 2014 car? I mean, that's my only reason here. I really appreciate where it's coming from. But it's the 2014 car.

I tweeted this. In Spain, him and Rosberg won from the next car by 49 seconds. 49 seconds. We're not even close to that. Alonso was only 20 seconds down the road in Saudi. Same for Bahrain. I know we had a safety car. But, yeah.

It's not the most dominant, yeah. It might be. If we get done later in the year and Vastappen's winning by 49 seconds or a minute, I'll hold my hands up and I'll apologize to Louis Amman. and I'll write my letter. But right now, Lewis. Yes, that's a new YouTube video. Harry will write a letter on stream

to Lewis Hamilton apologising. Everyone's going to want to watch that. Me writing a letter. I'm great content. Yeah, I'm there. You just want, I'm writing tips, mate. You'd be able to read your writing at least, so that's a step in the right direction.

Isn't that right crazy predator? You make a good point about 2014. There's going to be some people that don't remember the reference, so you just think you're calling Harry a creative bugger. That's true. My name. CP. Yeah.

For anyone who didn't tune in a couple of episodes ago, I managed to incorrectly write down someone's discourse submission as crazy predator rather than crazy preacher. Or sorry, I wrote it down correctly. I just didn't read that I wrote it down correctly and thought I might have written down Predator rather than Preacher. Look at our Instagram. It's just a squiggle.

I don't know what. It's just hieroglyphics. Yeah. Of course, you're right with 2014. 2014 was the most dominant car of all time because Lewis Hamilton got 50 points in one race. That's how good it was. That's true.

That's a very good point. Cheers, Bernie. Double points at Abu Dhabi for anyone wondering. Sam, what did you make of Lewis Hamilton's comments? Does he have a pointer? I think if anyone is going to make this comment, it's Lewis Hamilton. He gets to make this comment. Lewis Hamilton has sat in some of the most dominant cars in Formula One.

He understands what it's like to do the other side of the event, right? To pass someone in the way that those Red Bull cars have done over Saudi and Bahrain. There was a stat that came out over the race weekend that over some of the Migfield cars, when DRS was activated, the Red Bull car had 20 kilometers an hour more top speed than other cars. going down the track, which is absolutely phenomenal. That is crazy levels of speed, right? Imagine getting hit by a car at 20 miles an hour, right? That's going to hurt, but then stick that on top of a car already going to go in 200 miles an hour, right?

There's a lot there. There's a lot going on. There's a possible 10% more than everyone else has got. And that's just in the DRS zone. That's literally just in the DRS zones. And I think he was referring to the fact that it almost felt like he was standing still whilst being passed by these cars. And I think it's a fair point to make.

And Harry, you brought up the, you know, the 49 seconds point, the 20 second lead that Perez, not for Stappen who we see is the more dominant driver, but Perez built out over only half of the Grand Prix because of the safety car, was 20 seconds. So the rest of the grid, if they got a perfect green running, I think could have been up more than 40 seconds. That car is up there with one of the most dominant cars that we've ever seen in Formula One. I'm not saying it's the, but I think any driver has every right to say.

It is phenomenally good. It is a pure machine. And I don't think they're moaning. I think it's a fair observation to go. The ability of that car right now, it should be achieving those things. And it's frustrating as any driver that's on the grid that isn't driving a red ball to watch how good it is. Just like every other driver dealt with when Lewis Hamilton was winning in 2020 or 2014, right? You're allowed to say, it's so good.

It's so dominant. and it's very evident that they have got by and far the best car on that grid. There's no competition for it whatsoever. So, yeah, I don't disagree with him. I think, yes, it's subjective. Yes, he has it literally sat there and done pure numbers and figures to work out possible points being one or seconds a lap or, you know, distance covered. But through quick observation, he is a driver of utmost skill and experience.

I think he's allowed to say something like this. I think it's a fair comment. I'm not saying he's not allowed to say it. I'm just saying he's wrong. For you Lewis Hamilton fans out there. Don't go after me. I don't think it's as crazy as it sounds on First Inspection. It's one of those things that it's not even a Lewis Hamilton comment.

It's a classic Mercedes comment of like bringing everyone else up and bringing themselves down where immediately you look at it and think, oh, yeah, Mercedes. And then you actually think about it a bit and it's like, it's not mad. whether he's right or wrong, it's not mad to think this because you're absolutely right, Sam, and I would have brought up the same point if you didn't about Saudi Arabia

that that lead probably could have been 40 seconds if you got 50 laps of green running. And I think Bahrain was 38.6, based on what I got here. So you're looking at two races back to back where you were about 40 seconds clear at the next fastest team. So I think whilst qualifying wise,

it's a shade below a few other, most significantly some of those Mercedes cars. I don't think qualifying is there. But race pace, it's got a shot at what Lewis Hamilton is saying here. Again, it's not crazy. I would point to a few cars and say, certainly they can be looked at as being on par or maybe even better than the Red Bull.

So I don't know whether it's right or not. You already mentioned 2014 is certainly a contender for the Mercedes. 2016 as well is probably up there too because correct me if I'm wrong here. 2016 they won all but two races and in one of those they took each other out, the Mercedes drivers at Spain and the other one Lewis Hamilton broke down in Malaysia.

So I think outside of that, they won every race. So again, that might be a contender. And I actually thought about this a bit more because you immediately, to challenge this viewpoint, you immediately go to the Mercedes drivers of 2014, 2015, 2016. But if you go back to 2009 when Hamilton was in the sport, you're looking at Braun. I mean, I can't quite remember the exact details of the Australian.

So if we're looking at just the first two races, as we're doing here in 2023, the Australian Grand Prix 2009, I know, Harry, you're pretty good at remembering specific races, but like you remember Button and Barakello finished one to that Grand Prix. I'm pretty sure Barrakello had like 100,000 incidents in that race and still finish second at the end. Yeah, that's a very fair point.

That's a very fair point. He ran into every one and then still finished second. Exactly. That was pretty dominant. And the next race was Malaysia, which was a shortened race, which buttoned still won by over 20 seconds. So that's probably another contender, at least for a shorter period of time. If we're not looking for a full season, we're just looking at a very condensed period of time. Braun of 09 might well be up there as well.

But again, whether he's right or not, Sam, you said it, it's subjective. Like, that is completely down to your personal opinion. But I don't think he's outlandish for saying it. I mean, the entry for it's a good car. It's still the one to be. I know how much it wasn't on the track racing. But if you're going to look at Dominant cars, right,

that's still the one up there that hasn't got there just. He was starting out. He was alongside Pierre-Louisie. Martini and the Minardi. Oh, that's how he knows it. Yeah, he must have been gutted when Sena out-qualified Prost by one and a half seconds. You can just see in the background

as Prost and Sena are crashing at Turn 1 in Japan. You just see him making a move on René Arnue. It's great. That's it, yeah. Hamilton or Arnui. I knew it somewhere. Thanks, Ben. No worries.

You Arnui it somewhere. Oh, there he is. And that's the dead joke of the podcast, folks. switching gears to the Austrian Grand Prix because it's been confirmed that it will be staying on the F1 calendar until at least 2027. We know that Austria has been on the calendar

for the last 10 years or so by this point and it played an integral part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, specifically 2020. It was the first race back after the break caused by the pandemic. Sam, what are your thoughts on Austria staying on the calendar for a few more years?

I am buzzing that Austria is staying on the calendar for a few more years. It's a short, simple, lovely little track is Austria, and it works on so many levels. The middle sector, which is the tight, twisty area, you know, you've got the double left-hander. You've got that long, twisting right-hand with the ground running of the cycle, and a few crashes happen there. We've got Valtry Bottas mowing the long, of course, on one section as well. And that entry into the pit lane in the final two call was also caused some drama. Plus, we get some great weather there.

The racing generally is very, very excited. you really have a dug race at Austria, even when you've got a dominant leader like we have for staff in the last couple of years and the Red Bull has really run away with it, the race itself is still generally quite an exciting one. Charlotte Cloe regularly forgets how big his car is around Austria, and that's always very fun to watch.

Was it for how long it would take that to come out. He likes to think he's driving like a micro racer or something like that, and no one can touch him, but crashes every year. Also, it makes a lot of sense commercially, right? The Red Ball Ring is called the Red Bull Ring. It's in Austria, it's where Red Bull is technically, you know, the home nation of Red Bull are a huge brand within Formula One. It makes total sense to go back to their home nation and build the fan base in that area as well. The Orange Army from actually staff and can travel there very, very easily.

It just is a wing, wing, wing, wing. There's no losses to me. It makes sense to have it as a staple of the grid. I really love it. So I'm really glad that it's going to be sticking around for a few more years. It is not a bad track to have on a 23-track calendar. Harry, you glad to see Austria sticking around? 100%.

I am so happy than I'm going to go running of Austria. It's, for all the reason,

Sam's already said, it's a great track. The atmosphere is good. It's quite orange,

but it's, it's still good. And it's just, I love it. I love a track that's got undulation. All right,

folks, it just, they're just better. Looking at you, Sochi. Bit of up and down. Yeah,

you can't. park. Bit of up and down. I might be start calling people that. What, you car park. Yeah,

shut up, you car park. You car park. Yeah, Austria's just a great track. I mean, last year I feel like it was, I can't remember what happened last year

was a bit of a dud, but for most years, it's... Look like what this happened last year. Oh, yeah, that was not about It was good. It was all right.

I just forgot. So there you go. It more often it turns up a very good race, if not a decent race. So I'm very pleased to staying around for the long term. Makes all the sense. And, you know,

I love it more than Saudi Arabia. So there you go. Wow. I mean, that's not much of a compliment, but... Do you know why that is? I'm just making... Yeah, Gordon, why is that?

Oh, what is that? Because it sucks. Oh, good. Just making note for when I have to impersonate Harry after we win the podcast award that you should go and vote for, that Jedder sucks. And I need to say it like eight times in one episode.

Great. You can vote for us in the Sports Podcast Awards. Well done. Yes, folks. There's a link in the description. Then you can go and vote for us as the best motorsport podcast. Remember you need to make an account first

before you can vote. And it's really greatly appreciated. love to win a award. If we do win, we'll do a whole episode impersonating one another. Harry has the intro, the podcast. Yeah, look, folks, I have to do it as Ben. And you know how much Ben does when he hosts this podcast, this podcast, this podcast, it's going to be a disaster. So for that reason alone, please vote for us. Back to the issue at hand, Austria. Oh, yeah.

A question to the Formula One community at large. When are we just going to accept that Austria is one of the best tracks in the world? It's so good. It just produced, but I always feel like it's just listed one step behind others that are considered greats. And I don't get why, because every year pretty much it delivers a banger of a race. And people don't like to hear it, but more often than not, year on year, Austria does a better job than Monza and Austria does a better job than spa

and people don't like to hear it but the race is a... It's true. I'm not saying those two are bad tracks. Far from it. But Austria consistently delivers better races than those two tracks do.

And they will always be considered a cut behind them. And I don't know whether it's time we actually just accept there aren't many tracks in the world that are better than Austria. The Red Bull Ring is a lot. right up there with the elite.

I think barraining Austria go down into the two most underrated Grand Prix tracks that we have on the entire calendar. I would say you're right on that. It just delivers great races. I'm delighted that this is sticking around for a few more years. That first race back in 2020

was a really great moment. Any Formula One, you remember that first race of 2020, any Formula One would have been great, right? But it was It was a brilliant race nonetheless, which was really needed at that point, and I'm glad to see it sticking around.

It's funny enough, speaking of dominant cars we were just talking about, do you remember when it was raining in the first time we back there? It was called What the Skiery and Grand Prix or whatever it was, and Lewis Hamilton got pulled by 1.1 seconds in the rain. Do you remember that?

And we were like, oh, well, that's the championship done then. Yeah, most dominant car in the history of F1, that's fine. He's got a smirk on his face, folks, of course. he does. I'll be lovely a little to the fans. We take our final

short break here and on the other side we're playing F1 order please. Oh. Oh no. Oh no, no. Some tracks on the day.

Here we go. So it out, Ben. Here we go with F1 order please. Whether it's a can of Coca-Cola or a lump of cheese, or we're ordering drivers by the size of their knees. This game is full of facts, just you wait and see.

This is Formula One. Order, order, please. Formula One, order please. So Sam and Harry will take it in turns. I will give them four answers to a question, and you have to order them in whatever way I say. So it could be by age, could be by highest to lowest in terms of a number. But they have to guess the order that they go in. they get it right, they hear the sultry tones of ex-speaker of the House of Commons, John Burko,

who will say this. Order! Note to self, that's far louder than the theme song is, and they'll get a point. However, if they get it wrong, the other person has the opportunity to steal the point, but there is risk involved in stealing because if they also get it wrong, they lose a point. not only is there the possibility of minus points in this game

there's an almost certainty that it will happen. Can't wait for a minus three in ten minutes time. Exactly. Speak amongst yourselves while I'll find the game second, please.

Sorry, I forgot that the quiz fact is big in process. Got it. Sorry, we just had a bit of an issue on the conveyor belt who managed to sort it out. Hang on, Sam, you just referenced

something from the Patreon episode we've recorded last night. That's true. Yeah. Seamless plug, thank you, Harry. Join the Patreon, you'll get the joke. Pay for the humour. Pay for the humour.

Stay for the... I don't know. The idiocy. Fun isn't free. All right, Harry will start with you on this one. What number do you want? One through six. Number one, please.

Number one. I'm going to give you four circuits. I want you to go from first to last. The last time they hosted an F1 race. So four circuits that aren't hosting F1 races anymore. The first, sorry, the last time they hosted from first to last, that definitely makes sense. What?

That makes no sense. You order them in a, you tell me what way you want to order them. As long as you understand. And I'll make it. So you're Adelaide. Yeah. Kailami. Brand's Hatch

and Zolder So from the oldest Oh god the oldest the most long time ago See there isn't an easy way to say this What year did they last host a race

And go one way or the other Okay I'll go from Zolder as the oldest Long time ago Yeah Brands hatch Kailami Adelaide is the newest, the latest.

Order! It's a great start for Harry Ede. 1984 was Zolder, 1986, Brandtatch, 1993, Kailami, and then 1995 was Adelaide. So, Harry's on the board.

One nothing. Sam, what number do you want? I'd like to scale, please. All right, what order do you want to go in? Okay. Is it because you can't remember the order he put? We're not going to discuss that. Number two, please, Ben.

Number two. Four drivers, four current drivers. I want you to tell me how many points they have, and this is as of the end of last year, so it doesn't include how many points they've got this year. Got it right them down. So you've got George Russell, Pierre Gasley, Nico Holkenberg, and Lando Norris.

Now, is this points over one season or points in their whole career? Career. Right, thank you. Okay, I'm going to go most to least. Wow, okay, this is actually quite difficult. I'm going to say Norris most then Russell

then Hulk then Ghazley That isn't the correct order Oh what a shock So it could stay at 1-0 Unless Harry wants to try and steal this I want to give it a gate At 1-0 You're going to keep

Out of interest if you had to pick an order What might you've gone for? Most Holkenberg then Norris Oh God, I don't actually know Norris Gassley Russell? Well,

it could have been 2-0. That would have been the correct order. Holkenberg, as of the end of 2020 at 521 points, Norris 428, Ghazley 332 and then Russell on 294. but it does stay at 1-0.

It goes back to you, Harry, for the next one. Three, four, five or six. Number five, please. Okay, four drivers who raced for Ferrari, I want you to tell me how many podiums they had at Ferrari, from most to least. So you've got Sam's favourite driver, Eddie Irvine. Love him.

Felipe Massa. Fernando Alonzo. and Mickey Louder. Nick, Nicky Lauder. Nicky Lauder. So, the most, I will say, Fernando Alonzo. Then next will be,

oof, next, Nicky Lauder, then Massa, then Irvine. That isn't the correct order. Sam, do you want the opportunity to steal it. I mean, I love being in minus point, so yes, let's steal it. How do you want to change Harry's answer?

Aloxo most. Then Massa, then louder, then Irvine. It was just one change that was needed. Odder! Yes, I'm on fire! Sam is on fire as he equalises at one all. We've got Fernando a long time. at the top with 44.

Felipe Massa, then 36. In fairness to you, Harry, there's not much between the two middle ones. Massa 36, louder 32, and then Irvine on 23 at the bottom. He was too busy holding me rather than scoring podiums. Exactly. Back to you, Sam. Three, four, or six. Number three, please, me, Lord.

Number three. four drivers How many laps have they led without winning a race? So you've got Chris Ayman Right, yeah Lando Norris

Yeah Alex Albin Yeah And Timo Glock Oh not Glock Um Okay All right

Okay. All right, okay. I think you gave it to me in the right order. So I'm going to go, Eam and Norris Alberg-Glock. That would be very typical of me to do, but I haven't done it here. Okay. Harry, do you want the opportunity to steal a point? No. Okay.

If you had to, out of interest, just to see if we can do this again, what would you have gone for? Because it's funny to see you actually get it right and not get a point for it. That is so true. Amon Norris Glock Albon You might want to

consider stealing one of these at said one Harry's found a new way to be wrong being right Good

I'm skill on fire Chris Amon led 183 laps in his F1 career without ever taking a race win

so he was first as you both got Lando Norris was second with 30

He won laps, led. Of course, we know the Russian Grand Prix contributing most of those, if not all of them. Timo Glock, 13 laps he led in his F1 career. Alex Albon, just one. Oh, come on, Albo. Get a life. One, Alex.

So, unbelievably, despite Harry actually getting three out of four right, it's one all. We go to number four or number six, Harry. Which one do you want? Number four, please. Okay, I want you to tell me from oldest to youngest when these drivers first won a championship.

So you've got Damon Hill, good old deal. Bill. Jim Clark, one Manuel Fangio, and Jack Brabham. Ooh. So when they won their first title,

age. First title. Fangio is well old, wouldn't they? I'll go, Fangio was the oldest. Then it, oh,

hang on. It was Fanjou Hill, Clark. And Brabham. Who's the last one? Oh, Brabham, sorry.

Fangio, Brabham, Hill Clark. That isn't the correct order. Sam, would you like to try and steal? Um, hold on.

I was too busy looking at something else on my phone. Damon Hill, thank you, for a problem. That's a bit suspicious. Oh, yes, folks. I'm Googling all the answers right now. Clark.

No, I don't want to steal. I've got one point on the board. I'm quite happy. Yeah, there's no chance you're going to minuses, so of course you don't want to steal this one. The correct order wasn't far off from Harry's, 40 years old, one man well found, you know, followed by Hill at 36. Then it was Brabham at 33 years old.

And then Jim Clark was 27. So you had first and last the right way around, it's just the middle of two. Which means it is one old. If I wanted to decipher the answer after not sealing, right? Says a lot. Think so I won't get it right. Yeah, one all. Sam, if you get this right,

you win order please okay I've got one thing right so far Harry's got 17 right good you've got this Sam what number do you want Sam number six please Ben one of these days you're going to turn around and say a number that we've already had but okay that's Harry's job

that's my job yeah okay have four drivers and none of them have ever led a Grand Prix how many races did they have in their career from most to least. Okay. Yoss Vastappen, Vittantonio Liuzzi, Danny Kviyat and Kevin Magnuson. Okay.

So I'm going to go most to least. I'm going to say that it was Magnuson Liutzi, Yoss Kiviat. That isn't the correct order, which means. Harry, you can either settle for a draw here or, mate, come on. Knowing that the last two times that Sam has incorrectly given an answer, you have correctly not steal or correctly not. Steal it.

Get it wrong this time and then I will wing anyway. That's really funny. That's what's going to happen, isn't it? No, you'll get it right. You get everything right. I'm the idiot. You're not. You're just trying to bait me.

to doing it, so I'll get it wrong. Definitely, definitely am not. Go ahead. Do it. Do it. You deserve to wing. I do not deserve to wing. I've got one answer correct. I'm doing this, it's filling the knowledge that I'm going to get this wrong. Okay. Who with the drivers again?

Magnuson Vastapen, Leutsi and... Kaviat was the other one. Kaffaiat. Oh, Kviat's been rafragous, kind of. This is tricky at the moment. I don't, this is tricky. I'll go for,

for Stappen as the most, then, Stapen or Kfayat's the most. Stapen is the most, then Kviat, then Leutzi, then Magnuson. So we knew.

Oh, come on. Harry declined to steal Sam's answer twice in a row he's going right despite knowing

the correct answer so of course he's stolen here the third time around got it wrong he's got it right

he's got it wrong folks yeah Magnuson Kaviyak Vastappen let's see in that order

so the final score is Sam won Harry Neil despite the fact that Harry got three wrong I haven't getting in my own questions right no this is a stupid game

you know what this is a really stupidly brilliant game all right that's probably enough of that Harry's going to like this very quick segment that I'm about to do before we get on to the best segment of today's show, which is giving our F1 fantasy update.

Oh, yes. Oh, no, no. So I decided to use my three times chip, and because of the stupid scoring system, Max Verstappen was essentially rewarded for starting 15th because all of those overtakes has seen me go up to fifth place overall. So I'm quite happy. hilarious. Sam, you were last last week, but you're not last this week because you're now 356th overall.

Come on. Harry. It's all Lander Norse's fault. Okay. You let me down. You were 494th on the week. And 359th overall. But...

Oof, size, large. It's okay. Because you're still doing better than beef. Beef's 483rd. Oh, Beef. Is Beef still got Carla Sines in the team? Because she needs to let it go. He used to let him go.

Just to be clear, Beef, you can use your full $100 million budget. You don't have to, like, don't know, pick the five cheapest drivers and then have a load left. I'm assuming that's what she's doing. She's bought the T-Phee. Top scorer of the week is Ferrari Plan 22,

so congratulations to whoever you are. are, and you're also leading the championship. We've just got, I think, just under 600 in the league at the moment. So thank you all for the tape up on that. And with that, we will go to Sam's favorite topic of the week, which is, of course, LB. Question of the week. Week.

Week, week, week, week, week, week, week. What was a remix? I love that. Wicca, wicker. Oh, I can't. So, of course, this week, our question the week, we put this out on Instagram and Twitter every single Monday, so stay tuned for that because we'll do another one next week, of course.

We decided to ask the question, what actually made Yuki Sanoda say this? Yuki card jam there, cheers. Yep. Any answers that you liked? I'm going to kick off. I think Instagram was, thanks, was so much better than Twitter. Sorry, Twitter.

Instagram absolutely took the team this week. And I'm just going to rattle through a few that I really liked. Chris said, Chris saying he got his pubes calling his sick, an understandable noise to make it, you know. I get that one big time. His whirly bar rapper got stuck in his break ducts. That's from Cainbury.

You're a hugger him said, right. Chris also said, different Chris said, press the wrong button on his steering wheel, I got Sam singing F one back and forth, only Mark said because the sound board wasn't working, then can hardly relate to that one. I'm sorry if I pronounce this wrong, but Jerome, you said,

behind bars beef came over the radio with a startling, hello, I can understand why that would make you scream. And then your very own lovely Laura Legerbird, Laura, who has, of course, been banned, and said, he just got word that my podcast bang hasn't been lifted yet. And, of course, I got that mighty screen. So, there's more than I haven't gone through. Almost life, I don't know, 50 years.

Oh, okay. Almost live. I'll let her know. Let me know it. Oh, dear. Someone said the thought of Sam, well, oh, Matthew Bonner saying the thought of Sam winning bold predictions this year, which would make anyone.

then he'll scream, make him be scream, then I'm asleep. He saw Sam try to answer a 50-50 question. That is terrifying. I like that one. My voice cracks. Young Joseph, sorry, young Yosev, it's a bit rude, mate. But thank you. I also got big love for dumb electricians saying Dave Biggs and Phillips whispering sweet nothings on his radio.

It's great. And me getting out my sausage for Gasly, understandably, would make anyone scream like that. That would make me scream. My favourite three from this week were, firstly, LJL-2685. He was upset that Ben wouldn't accept the fact that Sam was right when saying David Coulthar

was Michael Schumack's greatest rival. Sure. My second favorite answer was his predictions were in line with Harry's, the scariest thing that could ever happen. the Mr. Crime Frog. My favourite answer of this week goes to Brian Schaefer

who said, he dropped his last baby bell. Oh no. Why the baby bell? I don't know. I love it. One just got me on Twitter was Deemster, who just said, The Corner Ahead, which I really liked

the idea of. Not one. Oh, God. So many. I think I've seen this one before. Like a recurring nightmare. Good, that will be questioning of the week. As always.

You're all hilarious. Thank you for listening. Indeed. Indeed. Sam, if you wouldn't mind, it's been a very long episode. If you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. Yeah, I'm already sick at the pair of you.

What the hell, man? We're going to go for ages. I know. And we can be back on bloody the weekend as well because we've got a new type of episode coming. I won't give too much away, but we're going to be digging into, let's just say, prolific older characters in the Formula One world

and telling you a bit of a story. So if you're looking for something a little bit of new in the world of late breaking, you want to hear a bit of story time, then make sure you're choosing on Sunday. And if you are a Hall of Famer on the Patreon channel, you want to become one, well, the very first beer with breaking

is going to be coming out. We've been recorded, they'll be coming out very, very soon, where we have a few beers or whatever your beverage of choice is. We'll chat about some questions that have been sent it by paper. and generally just life and Formula One stuff as well. It's been very fun, very casual. I know it's always chill on the podcast,

but this is going to be so chill to meds with it back into freezer, quite frankly. So lots of content to come. And you may have heard already, we also recorded the other exclusive patron topic earlier in the week. That will be getting released very, very soon to all you Patreon subscribers who are applicable to that lovely topic. We go mad at the FIA.

We get quite angry on it, actually. Yeah, it's a real stretch for us, but the anger suits out. Anyway, thanks for listening. It's been a long episode. We really appreciate all your support. Check out the Discord. Over 1,700 people chatting F1 constantly

and all sorts of things in there. It's a lovely group. Lovel people joining, really, really lovely group of people. Everyone is very welcoming and kind. If you don't understand how it all works, people will help you. We're also in their chatting away. Also, social media.

Can we give us a follow at Lbreaking on Twitter. Or follow the three of us individually as well. You can find this sort of on there. Or, of course, on Instagram, Late Breaking Effron podcast, or on TikTok, because we're down on the kick to Late Breaking Everton. And of course, if you want to look sexy, hunkerlicious, then check out the LB Merck store. You can put yourself a nice fancy t-shirt or a bucket hat or something that, you know, just makes you look groovy, baby.

I think that's everything. Vote for us in the podcast awards. I'm tired from doing the outro. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sto. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been a car park. And remember, keep breaking late. Can I steal that?

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