The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Hamilton wins at Portimao! | 2021 Portuguese GP Review | Episode 116

Episode Date: May 2, 2021

Despite falling down to third place at one stage, Lewis Hamilton fought back to win at Round 3 in Portugal, followed by Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas - the boys break down all the talking points from the GP.Tweet us @LBraking!Make sure to SUBSCRIBE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello, and a very warm welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast. reviewing the Sam has got hiccups, Gromprey. Sorry. It's an absolute belt. This could be an interesting one, folks. It's really good. We have got a Grand Prix to review.

The third one of the year, we go. Sorry, everyone. You have to meet yourself, Sam. I, are. This is going to be tough. This is going to be a tough one. Next 40 minutes, everyone. Yeah, so Lewis Hamilton

taking the victory ahead of Max Verstappen, and then Valtrey Bottas in third, Lewis Hamilton's second win of the season, extending his championship advantage. So it's one point going into the weekend. It is now eight points following that race win. Really interesting one. Sam, I'll give you a couple more minutes just to see if you do recover. Harry, what did you make of it?

Well, yeah, I mean, this could be in really interesting 40 minutes. But, yeah, as I was saying to you, off air, it almost felt like it was a letdown of the race. but it wasn't because I think it was a good race just because we've had two really amazing races to start the season. I think the first half was particularly interesting. But yeah, overall, enjoyed it. Love a bit of Portugal.

Yeah, a bit of a roller coaster. But yeah, overall, I'd give it a six and a half out of ten. And that is what everyone has tuned in to see, really, what that overall race result was going to be. Sam, we'll give it. Yeah, exactly. Sam, you don't actually have to say anything in the end at all, because Harry's actually managed to encapsulate everything in that first 30. She has.

Keep breaking late. We'll give it a go with you, Sam. But, I mean, moves for the lead at least. So there was something to enjoy in that race. Yeah, we bloody love a move for the lead. And Ben, you've always said it. And I've always echoed what you've said in this point, that, you know, as long as we see a threat of a change or a threat of a move or we see some close racing.

And we've got that a lot of the case up and down the finish. field. It's exciting. That's what we want to see. And Portugal appears to be able to deliver that now year on year, two years in a row, and it's been an exciting Grand Prix both times. You're right? It wasn't as breathtaking or as thrilling necessarily as Bahrain or Imala was. But it doesn't mean it was a bad Grand Prix. I was very satisfied with that. As the first three Grand Prix go in a season, it's delivered. And we've got a real thriller of a season on our hands, it feels like. Those two moves from Hamilton were absolutely gorgeous. That sweeping move around the outside. on Botas was a real kind of assertion of dominance. So, you know, I'm still the number one guy here.

There's any doubt. And obviously, they'll move down the inside on Max again. Brilliant to see. And then the safety car transition that we had, Hamilton caught out, sleeping, unusual in a Formula One car. But, you know, there it's happened. And Max Verstappen took advantage of that. And I thought then, for a minute, the staff was going to catch up to Bottas and get that move done. And that might be game over for Lewis. It kept you guessing. And that's what I like about this kind of Grand Prix. They keep you're guessing. I never really knew when that pace is going to drop off, when that pace is going to come back, when we're going to get a move done. And it wasn't just at the front either. And we got to see some of it. Well done race director. You got a little bit better.

We got to see moves on, you know, Ricardo passing, also decided three quarters of the way through the Grand Prix that he was going to start making overtakes. I'll give you a 40 lap peg start, everyone. Right, I'm coming. And he did a good job and it was good to see. And even as far back as Schumacher on the T-fi, that was fun to watch. That was a really, enjoyed more little battles and I'm glad we actually got to see it take place. So I'm quite happy that we've got action all up and down the field. It was not just the top four with 10 seconds between them each time, driving around and no action, and then the director doesn't bother to show any in the big field. We saw action everywhere.

And that's what I want in an F1 race. I want action up and down the field. It doesn't always have to be constant overtakes. It can be close running. It could be an attempt here or there. But we saw it. And that is brilliant. And if, you know, these first three races are anything to go by, the

rest of the season, apart from Catalonia next week, is going to be an absolute treat. So, bring it on. I'll give it a bit more of a six and a half out of ten. I'll probably give it a seven and a half out of ten. I didn't know where that answer was going to end, Sam. Sorry. That kept going for ages. The hiccups had stopped for a moment. So I thought, make the most of it. Keep going. Get the words in. Get the words in. Whilst you can. I mean, we're going to get into the various moving parts of this Grand Prix as we go through this podcast. So we all be looking at Bottas's performance. performance of the Red Bulls, the midfield as well. I'd like to start though with the race

winner, Lewis Hamilton. Not necessarily something we always necessarily need to see in terms of Lewis Hamilton making two overtakes in order to make a win happen a lot of the time qualifies on pole position and doesn't necessarily need to make the overtakes in order to guarantee the 25 points. So, Harry, what did you make of Hamilton's two moves on Vastappen and Botas respectively and then his ability to pull away after that? Yeah, I think But Brundle said it in commentary. It was kind of classic Hamilton opportunism. Yeah, spot on it.

Thank you. English. English. Yeah, he, you know, for the first five or six, seven, eight laps, he looked kind of like he was hanging on to Bottas and Vestappen. And then as the tires came towards him, as soon as he got the sniff of an overtake, he just did it, which, yeah, I mean we expect it.

and it was only because he'd lost that on that safety car restart that he was behind Vestappen, which, as Sam said, was unusual. He's not often caught napping, but yeah, it was kind of what you expected, and he didn't pull away massively, but he still had enough of a cushion, really, for the rest of the race thereon in. And, you know, it ebbs and flowed, I think, the pace. There were times when Max looked quick. There were times when Bottas occasionally looked quick,

but they never really troubled Hamilton from the flight. from there on in. So, yeah, he just didn't panic, which we know he wouldn't do and then got the job done. Yeah, it was a pretty flawless before. I say flawless, apart from the safety car restart, but other than that, he was pretty flawless, I think. What did you make of his performance, sir? This is exactly what I've come to expect of Lewis Hamilton.

And that's a silly thing to say, because I think that kind of performance for most drivers is a little bit, you know, that's what you expect at the very top of their game. is what you expect for their wrong one on today. But this for Lewis Hamilton, just felt like he just did what Lewis Hamilton does. He turned up to the event.

At times, it didn't look like he had the fastest car. He realized what his strengths were in that classic tyreware that we've come to know him well for in terms of conserving his tyres. He gets up behind his opponents, makes that move clinically well.

It was so clean on both occasions. And he got the job done. Lewis Hamilton, proving once again why he's the seven-time world champion and Bottas, for example, isn't the leader of the team because they've got the same machinery and Hamilton's there able to pull off moves of both of Staffen and his teammate,

while Bottas gets stuck behind both of them and slowly falls and falls further and further back. So to me, this just once again demonstrates why Lewis is where he is and why other people haven't got to that extent. He also just made it look a bit easy, which is just crazy. I just can't believe how simple he makes two different overtakes on the same corner against two of the fiercest, in the sport and he's just say like yeah I'm through see you later two seconds up the road now bye and that is just so

accustomed for Lewis it's so normal for Lewis Hamilton to do that's why he's a seven time world champ that's why he's league in the championship again it was an all-round brilliant performance apart from being caught napping on the safety car restart which he very quickly made up for and that's what you need to see so yeah brilliant performance for the champ yeah I'll like hear your thoughts there clinical made the moves when he needed to and you're right and what you say that there was an element of patience about this and even with that element of patience he still had the two moves wrapped up with another 46 laps left to go in the grand prix so he somehow managed to be patient with the moves at the same time he got everything wrapped up within the first third of the grand prix even with five laps

on the safety car so he made pretty quick work of the of what he needed to do and you know this is this does come back to Mercedes dominance over the last one not just this year but you know Mercedes dominance over the last seven years or so in that there are so many occasions where Lewis Hamilton goes on to victory and you don't necessarily need to see more than him extending a gap after he's claimed pole position. And today, we saw something different. Of course, he didn't get pole position on Saturday. It was Bottas, his teammate who did. He lost that position to Max Verstappen at the safety car restart. So at that point, he needs to make two overtakes if he wants to take the win. And to his credit, both of them happened on track as well. You could have, you know, maybe got away with doing one of

them under the pit stops like Vestappen was able to get past Bostas. Maybe, you know, that could work in his favor. To his credit, like he didn't need that. And he was able to do both on track at the same time. And when Bottas and Vestappan were battling for P1 and P2 and Hamilton was about one second behind or so, you know, you just felt that there was no chance that those two were going to. to race off into the distance battle for the lead with Hamilton settling for third. You always felt like Hamilton has the opportunity to pick these guys off one after the other, depending on who's able to get him from. Obviously, Bottas was able to keep the lead ahead of Vastappen.

And as such, it was, it was Vastappen who was the first target and Bottas, who was the second target. But this is, this almost, it's almost like a top Premier League striker kind of thing where you need to be clinical. Sometimes you only get two chances and you need to, make them both count, which is what he did. He gave himself an opportunity to overtake Bottas, nailed it at the first time, had an opportunity to overtake the Stappen, nailed it at the first time.

It's that clinical display that we've come to expect from Lewis Hamilton, and there's just no element of surprise about it, because even though it is incredibly impressive, it's just something we've become so accustomed to see him from him. So I think it was an incredibly impressive performance to go from third-plice, at the beginning of the race to first place and to the point where your two nearest rivals

feel there's no chance of winning that they can pit to go for the extra point for the bonus point fastest lap to go from that point to that point it's pretty impressive 66 laps work for him and to focus a little bit more on on valtrey botuskis he did claim pole position something we've seen him do plenty of times he did have the lead at the beginning of the grand prix and has ended up finishing third place. He's gone from lap 19 in the lead to lap 66, taking the fastest lap point, but he's down in third. So what did you make of his demise in the Grand Prix,

I guess you could say, Harry? Yeah, I mean, first of all, I think that's easily his best performance of the season, which is a lot. Yeah, no, it's not a great thing. But, yeah, I mean, it's more on the form of Bottas. we've become accustomed to in both sentences of the word

that he's really quick but then can't convert it on a Sunday yeah look it just doesn't work out for him he's there isn't he he's there or thereabouts he just can't find I think he was on Vestappen's pace really and he got done by the undercut

and obviously had that issue with the engine later on but I think he's there or thereabouts he's just not quite got that last little little bit of speed or consistency during a race that the Sappan and Hamilton have and it just it hurts him every time yeah it was almost like watching the 2020 Portuguese GP it was almost exactly the same um so yeah I mean I guess he can take some heart from the fact it was a better weekend but look he yeah he just doesn't quite have the last little bit to make it count um which will hurt but I don't know what else he can really do to rectify that.

I think he has to have a race where something goes wrong for Hamilton and for Stappen for him to really capitalize and win. So, yeah, I'm sure he won't be very happy about it, but at least it was slightly more encouraging. Yeah, and I guess silver lining, at least from the team's standpoint, is that if Bottas is being positioned as that second driver versus Perez as Red Bull's second driver, then Bottas did claim four more points than Perez did out there today. Sam, I'm just looking at Bottas from P1 to P3. What did you make of his good start, but not able to capitalize?

Bottas took a great job up until the last 10% of the entire weekend. In practice, he was threatening. He looked the faster of the two drivers. But I think most people would look at a team and go, oh, one driver seems consistently fast on the other. All right through practice and then gets polling qualifying. Well, your teammate is Lewis Hamilton. it seems like when Lewis is behind Bottas,

I can always think there's a chance here that Lewis is going to go on to achieve something. There is a chance that a move could be made. There's a chance that an overtake will be tried. When Bottas falls behind, we so rarely see Bottas go on the counter, go on the offensive, try and take those positions back. It's so rarely comes back the other way

that it's almost a bit defeatist. And Harry, you made a very good point a minute ago, you said the lying kind of, you know, it doesn't seem to happen for him. Well, it doesn't seem to happen. happened for him, and you know, it's only got to happen for you enough times until you need to kind of look at yourself, your own ability. Bortas is a brilliant driver, but is he a good enough driver to be in that top spot now? Because I think Bautas has to start more looking over

his shoulder rather than looking forward. How are the staff and very much seems to be very comfortable? They're in a bit of a league of their own at the moment. They are the two challenges. There's no doubt about it. That poor start from Bautas has already put him at such a disadvantage, but I can't really see him mounting a massive challenge. Those two again, unless they've both DNF for some reason. Perez, on the other hand, is becoming more and more comfortable in that red ball. Yes, he claimed more points today, then Perez. But that's not to say that Perez, over the time period, will not become more and more

comfortable. More tracks might suit that red ball. And Perez might be able to maximize that. Again, also behind him currently, Lando Norris, that McLaren is no slouch. I can't believe I'm saying this, the fact that maybe another team, the fifth-place driver at the moment, could be the guy to attack Bot-Awax. who is in the car that's currently leading the championship, but I think it's a realistic possibility.

There will be certain tracks where I think Norris will have the capability to challenge Botas. If Bottas isn't on his absolute premium come of race weekend. Going from first to third for any driver isn't ever good enough. It once again wasn't good enough for Bottas. If we're going to talk selfishly for Bottas, he is not doing what he needs to do to cement himself as a title challenger, and we're only the third racing. We've got another 20 to go, so he's got time to rectify it.

But I didn't make a bold prediction a little while ago that he won't win another race. I'm standing by that. I just don't think he's got that gritting us in him at the moment to snatch that victory away from now to challenges. It's not just Hamilton. It's Hamilton and Vastappen, two different cars, two different builds, strengths on either area.

I just can't see it happening for Valtrey, unfortunately. And I think this demonstrated it very clearly today. Yeah, this might be slightly peculiar because I think I stand up for Valtrey Bottas more than the average person does. You do. You do. Is the average person was Sam? Well, if the average person was Sam, then I'd love to know what a critical version of that is. But if we're looking at the first two races,

Bahrain, I was somewhat, somewhat understanding. I think when, you know, the pace was pretty similar. Once Bottas had got out, once Bottas had clean air, he had pretty similar pace to Vastappan and Hamilton. So I was able to at least cut him a little slack based on that. Imola, not a good performance, obviously, but again, I did offer him a little bit of slack because in the wet, there weren't many overtakes that happened without the DRS. He couldn't get pastoral.

Maybe he should have done, but I don't think it was criminal that he didn't. And actually, what here, you've said Harry is his best performance of the year so far. I'm actually ironically going to be the most critical about him today compared to the first two races. Because I really don't think it was a very, I don't think it was a good performance. Firstly, if we're looking at the, let's look at the two overtakes that happened on him. And, you know, I always, I always say that if there is a driver or two drivers in this instance who are constantly within your DRS range and that never stops, your pace probably isn't equivalent to the guys behind because we know how difficult it is to stay within DRS of the driver

in front for laps at a time. You know, we've often seen where the chasing driver will catch up and they'll be behind them for a couple of laps and they can't get past and they kind of drop back a bit after that point because they just can't maintain that. What we saw today, particularly with Hamilton, but also with Vastappen, was that they were just able to stick within one second of Valtrey Bottas, which more often than not implies that actually your pace is inferior to the guys behind you. And once they get passed, you're not going to be able to stay within the DRS range as they could. And that proved to be true. Once Hamilton got passed, I think Bottas had one lap of DRS before he was outside the one second zone.

And after that point, you know, two, three, four seconds, it was a done deal. Similarly with Vestappen, you know, they were tucked in quite close behind in that first. Once Vastappen got passed, even with Bottas's slight resurgence in the second half of the race, he still didn't really threaten that position all that much. So, you know, I think once Vestappen and Hamilton, I actually think had pretty similar. pace overall, once they were able to get past Botas, they were able to show what they were truly about and Bottas just wasn't quite there overall. And to look at the two overtakes specifically, I don't actually think he handled either particularly well. Firstly, the Hamilton one,

of course it is same machinery, which, you know, doesn't look great on the driver being overtaken. You know, and ultimately, and this, to be honest, this shouldn't be specifically aimed at Botass is actually aimed at the entire grid because going down into term one, I think everyone, quite naturally, because by default, everyone just defends the inside line. It doesn't work at that first corner. And I'm not saying that it would absolutely definitely work to defend the outside into term one. But surely it's worth a go because once you go on the inside defensively there, you just have to, Martin Brunnell made this point quite a few times, you have to slow down so much in order to make that corner and also not hit the car on your outside, that it just doesn't quite work.

I'd like to have seen Bottas maybe try the outside, but I won't be too critical on him on that because pretty much every driver defending did the same thing. But the one on Vestappan, I want to focus on a bit more specifically because it appeared as if the Red Bull could not compete with the Mercedes on the straight, which led me to the conclusion that the only way

that Vestappan is going to get past is either A, get the undercut, or B, Bottas make a mistake. Arguably both happened. You know, the mistake thing, It was cold tires, so again, I won't be too critical on that. But the actual move going down into Turn 5, I think it is, I would love to have seen a Kimi Reichen-esque attempted a cutback from Bottas.

It seemed very, yeah, you've got it, mate. There's not much I'm going to do. You're never going to hang it around the outside of Verstappen who's diving up the inside there. So you might as well, even if it doesn't work, try a switchback. I'd like to have seen more fight, really, from Bottas in both of the moves that were attempted on him. I don't think he was there on either of those overtakes. I don't think his pace was great once he was in fresh air. And I'm leading to the conclusion.

I'm going to ask you both on this now, that this is very much for Stauffin versus Hamilton. And whilst I can see Bottas picking up a win or two this season, I don't think it comes from out, you know, just pace and pace alone. I think it would require something else to happen. And to be honest, that might include Perez as well. I think that one's a bit more of a TBC. But I do want to throw that question over to you.

Harry, do you think the Vastappan and Hamilton are just going to run away with this championship and any wins outside of those two guys are going to be from circumstances

that aren't expected? Yeah, I mean, I think I made that point earlier. I think if Bottas gets a win this year, it's not going to be on outright pace, it's going to be something's happened to Vestappan and Hamilton.

So yeah, I think, and I think we kind of guessed that Vastafin and Hamilton they would be the main two. I had, I mean, I say hopes. I guess they were hopes. After Saturday, after qualifying,

I was like, oh, let's throw a third person into this championship fight, because that would be excellent. But going by today, I didn't think it's going to happen. So, yeah, I'd have to say, I have to agree with you, but I think it's going to be Hamilton versus Vestappen. It's like, you know, Schumacher, Hackaden, Senna Pross, that kind of thing, isn't it? No one else is going to catch up to those two at the moment.

So, yeah, sorry, sorry, Botti. what do you reckon some do you think that this is do you think there is a chance that 23 out of 23 could go to these two guys if reliability stays as strong as it has been for both of these teams especially in the say he's case reliability has always been a real strength of bears red ball need to improve a little bit but clearly have been then yeah i really do think that we could be trading race wings until the end of the season between hamilton vastappan um i have said a few times now i've always said it in this podcast once I don't think Bottas wins again in his career. And if he does win again, that is simply because they've taken each other out.

There's been a serious disaster with both of those teams at once. I don't think he can beat Hamilton and Bastappen together on the same field. He'd have to have one of them from the DMF and then one of them have some kind of problem. I think that says a lot about the demise of Bottas's form over the years. A couple of years ago, it felt like we were saying Bottas is a threat. what us is the chance? What us is the one that could come along and change something. Now he's a kind of a heavy doubt if you can even score one wing on pace in a season.

I think when those doubts setting from fans of the sport like we are, that sets a lot about what the motorsport community are saying. Because if all three of us agree on that point, then, you know, we're all quite fair, I think in our opinion. You have a joke and a laugh. But I like to think we place our opinion on realistic results, tried and tested formulas, we give it time. And that's showing now in block last four.

me, it's not good enough and it's not consistent enough. So, yeah, I don't think he wins again unless Hamilton and Vastappen both the NF, and he's got a combat Perez and Bostombe Norris. That Akkara still explicit. And Perez is improving with every single race he saw today. He was still well off it, but give it another two or three races. Perez could be there as well, and that is trouble for Bostas. So for now, Wattas doesn't win again unless absolute disaster strikes for the topic.

Yeah, I think Vestappan and Hamilton will walk away with this. I do think there are opportunities for, sorry, for Botas and for Perez and maybe someone else to take a win or two. Just because specifically with Bottas, we know that he does have his specialist circuits in Russia, Austria, Australia specifically. So I think he could, you know, get it together for one of those weekends. We know how good Valtry Bottas is in qualifying. So if he's able to hook together a lap at, say, Monaco or a similar circuit where it's really difficult to overtake, then maybe that leads to a win. So I still think there are a few opportunities out there for Bottas,

but it is going to be very difficult to take wins away from those top two. And, you know, Botas in the last couple of years, you know, it's been up and down in terms of his form, but largely speaking, it hasn't mattered too much what his form has been because, you know, particularly 2019 and 2020, they haven't really had a rival to challenge them. Now they're in a position where Botas doesn't, just need to be good for his own sake. He needs to be good for Mercedes's sake as well,

because they have got Red Bull knocking on the door. And if he does turn in, starts to turn in sort of P4 performances, as we say, he beat Perez today, which I guess is Objective A ticked, but as, you know, as Perez gets used to the car, is he going to come under threat regularly by him? He needs to perform for the sake of the team as well as, you know, as well as himself. Driver of the day, Harry, who have you got for this one? Um, I am going to give it to, I'll give it to, oh, I don't know. I'm going to give it to Fernando Alonzo. Because I think Hamilton would be, he's an obvious choice, Teton Wachap.

Um, but Alonzo apparently remembered who he was halfway through the race. And I overtook most of the midfield and then only ended up a couple of seconds behind Ocon. and I think after yesterday, that's a, yeah, is what we expected from Alonzo. So, I mean, Okon also had a very solid weekend, I have to say. But, yeah, I'll go into Alonzo. Hampton, of course, it was, as we've already said, pretty flawless.

And also, honorable mention to Mick Schumacher for doing Williams. I didn't actually realize that my little Schumacher fan boy, he's still here because I was chairing at the telly as he was getting his 17th place. So, yeah, it was a good little battle aside. and he beat Mazapin by a minute, which is pretty substantial. But yeah, I'll go for Alonzo, but a lot of good drives through the field.

Oh, and Norris as well. Another solid effort from him. It must have been strange for Mick Schumacher because he must do like 90% of his driving in his mirrors just looking at the car's weight, you know, ready to lap him. So it must have been very old to actually look forward for once and actually see a car in front that is slower than him. Sam, who have you got?

Harry mentioned all the right names there. Alonxia was brilliant. Ocon massively underrated this weekend. I was surprised at how consistently solid Ocon was this weekend. Great qualifying performance. Under the radar in the race, you know, it wasn't absolutely breathtaking, but brought home good points for an Alpine team that has struggled.

I think you make a very good point with Fernando. We love seeing Fernando try and carve his way through the field. That's always a brilliant sight. Is Fernando alongside, right? It's spicy. We love it. I think both Ferrari boys did a really good job. It was really good to see them actually having a challenge.

But Norris stood out in that midfield. Norris was, I think, brilliant all round. Lewis Hamilton is driver of the day. Apart from that, caught napping at the safety car restart. I think he was absolutely flawless. And what impressed me even more so was he was so quickly able to make up for that mistake as well. And then just comfortably put his dominance onto the race after taking the lead. Takes the championship league even further after this one.

asserts why he might be outtime world champion at the season. This was the kind of performance he needs to bring every single weekend to beat Max for Snapham and he did it convincingly.

So Lewis Hamilton, granglete. Yeah, there were a lot of good performances up and down the field, but for me there are two that stand out above the rest quite clearly. And for me,

they have been the two best drivers of the season so far, quite comfortably, actually. Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris. I'm actually going to give it to Lando Norris on this one, Lewis Hamilton was very nearly flawless. The only thing that let him down was the safety car restart.

I struggled to find any fault in what Lando Norris did out there today. And the one thing that I will say about Lando Norris specifically, and we might get into this as we go through the podcast, but the hard tire for whatever reason was an absolute belter. Everyone who put on the hard tire really benefited from it. Charles was behind Carlos Sines after the pit stops. Lecler went on the hard tire, signs went on the medium tire, Lecler finished comfortably ahead.

Alonzo was very good on the hard tire. Ocon was around Gasley and Vettel when he came in for the pit stops. Ockon went on the hard tire. He finished well inside the top 10. Vettel and Gassley dropped down and they weren't anywhere near O'Con at the end of the race. So I think those who were on the hard tire benefited greatly from that. Landon Norris was not on the hard tire. He had to do the second stint on the medium tire, yet he was still able to keep those on the hard tire behind him,

which I thought was incredibly impressive. the only time his position was in any threat was from Carlos Signed straight after the pit stops and he passed that test with flying colours. So Lano Norris, another faultless performance from him. Worst driver of the day, Harry. I mean, can I just say before I do that, the official driver of the day, I mean, this is the official one obviously, but the F1 driver the day, they've given it to Checo. Sorry, you're having a tin bath there, aren't you?

What are the fans, folks? voting for. Started fourth and finished fourth. Congrats, checking. And was, and was, for a lot of the race,

10 seconds behind, sorry, come on. I don't know what that's about. Anyway, um, before this drive of the day, I will give it to,

uh, I'll give it to Kimi Reichen. He was so good here last year. And this year, no good. He, he, Giovannazzi absolutely did him in quality.

It was about six tenths or something, wasn't it? Yeah. I mean, so that was bad to start with. And then because he didn't like it, he decided to drive into the back of him on that one.

Have that Italian, Jesus. Yeah, yeah, boom, have some of that son. It was such a weird one. Like, yeah, anyway, so it was a pretty poor weekend. I know, wait, did Kimmy miss FP1 or did you even ask him miss FP1? I think it was Geo. Oh, that's even worse then, yes. I mean, Kimmy, sorry, mate.

We love you, but it was terrible. Terrible around. Sam, who have you got? Excluding Nikita Maddoin from this situation, because my lord is that boy bad at driving an F1 car. This feels like the first, I'm in a long time, we've had someone who is just categorically bad and just slow. There's Nick Schumacher has not a good car,

but he's there overtaking Latifie, and he's only a few seconds behind Russell, who he saw what he could do on the Saturday before he had some gremlings, as brother likes to put it in the car. Schumacher's challenging. He's having a bit of fun, he's having a fight, which is brilliant. And Nikita is clearly one second. a lap slower than his teammate to be one minute behind after 60 laps, which is pretty shocking,

pretty shocking. In terms of people who are actually racing their competitive format for the rest of the F1 grid, it's finally happened, folks. Valdry Blotas is the worst driver today. We got to the third race at the same. You had race three, folks. Who had race three? Well, I'm going everyone to hold out for that long. A cookie coming your way. Honestly, you start in pole position and you end up being out. absolutely mugged off by your teammate around the outside in one attempt. And then to be switched back on like that by Max Verstappen.

And not even covering the insides going down to that hairpin. It's just, just feels like a rookie era. Where's your challenge? Where's your fight? Where's your determination? I've come into this season with a new mindset. I'm going to be more aggressive and selfish. Okay, I'll just finish third again.

Nice on Valtrey. It's getting boring. Do more about it. I didn't like it. You're the worst. Everybody's a day. I'm not going to go. give it to Valtry Botas. For me, there were, again, actually, two contenders for this one.

Firstly, I'm not going to give it to him, but I think on most weekends I would have done. Yuki Sonoda, he was just absolutely nowhere this weekend. Absolutely baller, I think you mean. Absolutely baller. No, he was nowhere. He was nowhere. I checked my kitchen to see if he was preparing another, if he was preparing another dive bomb, but apparently he wasn't intending on doing that this weekend. and I don't know what the end Delta was, but he was a long way behind the rest of the midfield on today. So he's a contender. But for me, the worst driver of the day was Nikita Mazepin.

Considering how bad the Hass is, and it is very, very bad, he has two jobs. Job one is to stay close to your teammate, and job two is to get out of the way of the fast cars when they come past you. He's O for two on that today, which isn't very good. So, I mean, yeah. He didn't spin. He didn't. I'm sorry, if your consolation is, he didn't spit. Goodness, man.

I can't believe I'm having to say this sentence, but you shouldn't be a minute behind your teammate. Yeah. Also, you should get out of the way of the fast cars. It's the bloody leader of the race at that time. And he's there like, oh, where am I going? So, what should my grand drive around the ASCA car park? Heres versus Matherton.

Sensational. Saga's in the boot. Why? No idea. Two jobs that he has to do, and he successfully did zero of them. So he gets worse driver the day for me. And lastly, moment of the race. What have you got for this one, Harry?

I will go for when Lewis Hamilton said on the radio, my tyres are shot. My tyres are shot. And then he's at fastest lap. Two hours later. Yeah, this is a vintage Hamilton comment, which I think it sounded at the race that, you know, he might have felt like he was struggling,

but he's still bloody quick. So, yeah, I'll go for that one for me. Best moment for you, Sam. There is a part of me when Lewis says that. He almost does it now for the memes. He's almost like, I'll chuck a, I'll chuck a one of these. You know, they'll love it out there in the best fans. I can't wait to wear this one again.

Bongo, the ties have gone again. Wink, wink. Oh wait, I've just driven around the earth fast and the Mazurpin's gone around one corner. Absolutely. Sorry, I've just seen Ian drop some chicken onto my bloody carpet over here. That is ridiculous scenes in the London household. Moment of the race is Ian dropping chicken on my new rug. Absolutely nasty.

We'll have words later, you and me. Ian's a cat, folks, if you need to the podcast, it's not a middle-aged man. So, yeah, moment of the race. It was that period of Hamilton absolutely doing both his rivals. For Stapin and Bottas, it was clean, it was executed brilliantly. We've said how, you know, Ben, you made that great point earlier about, you know, you should defend to the inside, you should have to the outside, you should have to the outside, you know, driving, you know, driving, you know, it doesn't matter for Hamilton.

It goes down the inside of one, makes it brilliantly, well, brilliantly, goes around the outside of the other. I think that sets up the rest of the season as to what we're expecting to see from both of these guys at the top. It was absolutely fantastic. I really enjoyed the Grand Prix. I'm going to go with Mick Schumacher making an overtake. You know, it's just a real feel-good moment that you don't often get in Formula One. You know, I know it's his rookie season, so he's going to be buoyed by just being in Formula One for the time being,

but it must be difficult being in a car that is that slow. So to at least have the opportunity to overtake a car that isn't his teammate, you know, not only have the opportunity to do it, but then actually execute it as well. It was a nice move from him. So, yeah, fair play. And hopefully that gives him the confidence in the next few races to just do his best this season. You know, he's not going to be able to do much in that car. But as long as he's able to show things like this, he'll be set.

Oh, Honourable mention for Lank's Scroll doing three years on the soft tire. Did no one tell him that he didn't need to do that? Lance, come into the pits, mate. Lance, please come into the pit. Lance. I love these tires, man. I love them. Lance, please come into the pit.

Softs are great. They're the colour of the Canadian flag. Lance, please coming to the pit. Shut up, Brad. I love Brad. Oh, Brad. Poor guy. Poor guy.

Brad Stangs. We are Brad fan club over here. Poor bread. Bread. Bread. Bread stands. Why? His name's Brad.

He's just called it Brad. All right, safe to say we're moving on from this. Driver of the day, without a doubt, was Sergio Perez, who managed to climb his positions from P4 up to the lofty heights of P4. So Sergio Perez's performance, what did you make of it, Harry? It was, again, it's like Bottas. It's kind of the best he's done all season. But I think you can forgive that more for Perez,

because he's only been in that car for three races. Like, it's getting closer to where Red Bull need him to be. It's still not close enough. But, you know, we're starting to see glimpses of what Red Bull can do with two cars in the game. I know Perez was a pit stop behind when Hamilton's closing in on him. But they left him out there just to be annoying, didn't they? That works.

I mean, yeah. It wasn't that annoying, but you get, you see what they were trying to do. But, yeah, his start was where it all fell apart. And I thought, obviously, he fell behind signs at the start. And I thought, oh, and then he got back past him. And I thought, oh, this is great. He'll be in the mix now. And then Norris did him, like a corner later.

And then he stuck behind Norris for the, you know, next 20 laps. So, yeah, he just needs to make sure he's still in the mix, wants to, you know, the race is underway. And I think he'll get there. I think it's getting there for Perez. He can't do that all season because it won't be good enough, but slowly but surely he's getting on the pace that they need him to be. And if he is there giving Bottas a headache,

then I think that's a good situation for Red Bull to be in. Good performance today from Perez, son? Yeah, I know we're talking about today, but I just want to mention Saturday. Qualifying is Jeffrey Perez's worst part of his overall weekend. I mean, he's not got a bad part. think he's pretty good all round, but Saturdays are definitely the bit where he struggles. And the fact that he's pretty much on pace with Max Verstappen at the moment.

I know if Stappen didn't have a perfect qualifying, but Perez is there. This is what we wanted from Albuoy and Gassi were in that red ball seat to be sat right next to Stappen lined up on the grid. And pretty much every race, something in the first one, so two out of three so far, where you expect it to be, he's been right there next to Stappen, if not better. So this is good from Perez. The race performance was a little bit tricky. he had a fast-paced carlos Sites and soft tires behind him.

This track is a real tough one. So when you're starting on those medium tires, he was the first victim, so to speak, of a soft tire running in behind. And we know that science clearly likes it around here, go back and watch our race review last year, which had one of us standing on our feet shouting at the TV.

Guess who? It was good. He is good round here. And, you know, Perez, yes, he fell victim to that move from sites. And then, sorry, Gladden Norris going around the outside as well, what an absolute belter of a move that was.

Feltie. Bloody hell, that was absolutely. That might be moved for the season. You know, we'll have to come back to that, but that was gorgeous stuff.

Not relevant to this conversation. And I think at Red Bull, you know what? It's a bit of a party atmosphere going on in the Red Ball garage. I think that they can be very happy with how it's going. If this is bad for Checo,

give him three, four races. I think we're going to see this improving. This is why I'm nervous for Bottas. I think Perez, once he's fully settled and he's got to grip to the car and when on more,

familiar tracks. Remember, two of the three tracks, we've only raced at for two years. Perez has got to grips with the new track and a new car, essentially. That's tricky to do. So I'm going to, can I give Perez a bit of the benefit of the doubt. When we get to maybe Catalan New Way, he's very used to it, or maybe more of the familiar European circuits, I think Perez is going to start to come alive a little bit. I'm feeling positive about the direction that he's going in. Not perfect, but it's definitely going in the right direction. I think this is a really, really positive start for Red Bull on both sides of the garage. I mean, what I would love to see, and I don't think this would be the most entertaining thing in the world,

but what I would love to see is Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez go back to Portaumau tomorrow, just those two and do 66 laps around racing each other. And I just want to see how much faster, or if he is indeed faster, how much faster Max Verstappen is from Sergio Perez and see what it's like per lap. Because I don't think any of the first three races, we've actually got an opportunity to see what their pace is like, to head. Some of the has been due to Perez's fault, some of them has not been. You know, whether it's been rain in Imola or it was the formation lap, you know, car problems he had in Bahrain

or here where he was stuck behind a couple of cars. We just haven't really seen Vastappan versus Perez head to head, same strategy. What have you got? And I'd love to see that because I really don't know how they stack up. You know, today, you know, Perez got stuck behind. find a couple of cars. It was his own fault that he did. But once he got three, you know, he was very roughly speaking about 10 seconds behind Vestappan and Bottas's fight in front. And at that point, because I thought Vostappen was being somewhat held up, his pace was somewhat compromised from Bottas in front, whereas Perez had clean air and he could, no one in front of him. So at that point in the race, I was like, okay, considering those two things,

I'd like to see Perez match Vastappen's pace here, because I think Vestappen is somewhat compromised. So I'd like to see a match, and he couldn't. Vestappen was still quite comfortably quicker than Perez at that point in the Grand Prix. But even that point of comparison was marred because it turned out that Perez was actually going four years on his tires compared to Vestappen who was pitting in the next sort of five, ten laps. So, you know, that could explain it somewhat that Perez was maybe managing his tires more than Vestappen was at that point in the Grand Prix. Hence why I would just love to see them on the same track at the same time with the same strategy. I still don't think we've seen it.

I actually think Perez was slightly unlucky because I think his strategy did not work at all in that I can completely understand it. Going into the Grand Prix, there was a real uncertainty as to what the best strategy was. Everyone knows a one-stop, but what sort of a one-stop was it? Was it using the soft tires?

Was it using the hard tires? Should you go long on the mediums like Perez did? A lot of questions, and no one really had the answers. It became clear as we went through the race, the hard tire is a very good race tire compared to the other two, which Perez didn't utilize. In an ideal world, if the soft tire was as good as the guys thought it was going to be, Perez could go on those medium tires for 40, 45 laps, or whatever it would turn out to be, then go on the soft tires to the end of the Grand Prix, where he would be quicker than the guys in front,

and he could make an impression. The strategic thinking was sound. The problem is that's not how it went. And actually, the soft tire didn't really prove to be much of an advantage at all on the hard tire. So what ended up happening was rather than conceding that and going on to hard tires where he'd have no chance of making an impact, they left him out there for way longer than he needed to just to see if a safety car would come about. It obviously didn't because at that moment there was just no strategic advantage to him going on to the hard tires. So I do think he was somewhat unlucky with how it all panned out.

And I think in a more standard race where softs are as good as they should be, I think they could have made something of it, but it didn't happen from him today. And lastly, we'll move on to Alpine, because after a tough couple of races, didn't perform particularly well in Imala. They did scrap a few points, but a lot had to happen in front of them in order for them to get those points. They seem to have more about them in Portugal. They both ended up in the points, even with Alonzo starting outside the top 10. So, Sam, do you think that there is any chance at all they can get in on the fight for the third place or fourth place?

No, to be completely blunt about it. Yes, it was definitely a more positive weekend for Alpine. I think it was great that we could see them up there in the stronger side of the points. Both drivers are challenging. but Port-a-Mau is a bloody tumble-driar of mystery when it comes to what could happen at that Grand Prix. Put that on a notebook, if you want it, folks. You literally don't know what you're pulling out of there

after the 90-minute cycles finished, you know, rain, tires don't work, the soft tires don't make any sense, the hard tires, the best race tire, you know, what's going on? It's all falling out. You know, the buzz is going off and you're all disorientating. And Fernando Alonso is overtaking you all of a sudden. It doesn't make any sense. So I definitely think that they were able to capitalize. Where other drivers were struggling.

O'Conn was solid, but he wasn't breathtaking. And I just think that McLaren and Ferrari just definitely feel more comfortable in those upper echelons of the points. When the same is a Red Buller are off enjoying themselves, it definitely feels like you're walking into a Ferrari McLaren playing ground and you're the Onguang out. You know, when you've got Daniel Ricardo starting as far back as 16th place, it opens up another spot in those top areas to challenge with. Ocona and Oaksa were the ones that are able to take advantage of that. Aston Martin don't seem to have really got their act together properly.

I know better have a better qualifying, but it's not really going their way at the moment. Nukis Senoda was nowhere. Gassi was having the best Grand Prix. Kimi Riking was out. Gio had a good one, but that Alpha Amos got there. So I feel like they were there more out of disappointment from other teams and other drivers, rather than being there on merit. They have a good weekend, and I'm happy for them.

I don't think this is going to be a regular, consistent performance throughout the other 20 races that we've got. I do think Ferrari McLaren are just better, unfortunately, at the moment. They need some big upgrades to see them challenging. Can you see Al-P making an impression on those couple of teams, Harry? I mean, firstly, just to say, Sam didn't have any analogies in that pre-race podcast, but he's come back with a whopper. Come back strong.

I'm very strong. Had to bring one back. It's like the championship. Yeah, yeah. I agree with what Sam was saying that I don't think we can base it off this race because the tumblejoy of mystery that is Port-Aland. I like that. I can't like it.

So, yeah, it's a tricky one. If we get to Spain next week and it's the same, they're in the same, you know, sort of space as McLaren Ferrari, then I think, yes, we can't say that. but yeah it's just been an odd one this weekend and it was about who got the tire switched on and that's why you had like ricardo when alonzo is starting so far back and obviously getting back up into the top 10 in the race but um yeah i don't know if alpina they're not quicker than mcclaren but if if anything if today's anything to go by which i'm not saying it is they're definitely getting closer um but yeah i mean the little rocket ship that is lando norris is

pretty hard to catch at the moment. So I'm not sure whether they'll be challenging McLaren. And if Ricardo starts to find some more pace, and yeah, I think McLaren still look like the favourites for that midfield. But at least it was good to see Alpine in that battle today, and hopefully it continues next week. Yeah, you're both spot on, annoyingly. Yeah, tumble dryer and mystery.

It is. The tumble dryer mystery. I can't argue with it. Porta Mao is so unique in terms of the levels of grip and particularly in terms of the wind as well. It just, it all adds together to make something of an anomaly. And until we see that pace from Alpine at another circuit, potentially Spain next week, I find it difficult to say that this is anything more than an encouraging sign. I don't think at the moment it's representative of a pattern. Like I say, if they do the same thing next time out,

then my opinion changes on this. But until I see that, I can't go with that. It was a good race. I was particularly excited by what I saw from actually no I was I was really impressed with both of them here you know Esteban Ocon has come under a lot of scrutiny and he put together a really good performance today Fernando Alonzo I think his Imola performance was pretty lackluster annoyingly but he was he was much much better out there today in the overtakes that he was able to put on

and yeah he was the progress he was able to make I was I was really impressed so yeah I think it was good But I want to see what they do next time out. And just remember that because of Norris's and LeCleur's brilliant start to this season, not only do they need to be on a par with these teams, they are at some point going to have to get ahead of them because they are already working on a deficit. So I know it's only three races in,

but they already have points to catch up. I think we'll leave that there. We'll leave the tumble dryer to one side. We'll let it finish its load. and we'll be back next time out for another podcast. Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here for this one. Folks, let us know what you thought of the Porter Mal Grand Prix hashtag a tumult dryer of mystery. Follow along social media, of course. Let us know what you thought about it. Where's the title fight going? Has Bottas got a chance? Is Perez able to mount something now? Is he able to really pick up that place?

Is Norris basically going to take McLaren to that third place, Gloria, can help being actually catch up? We'd love to see Fernando do a little dance on a poker. at some point. That'll be wonderful. Of course, we'll be back in the week for the preview of the Catalonia Grand Prix. We can guarantee you it'll be more exciting than the race itself. So make sure you turn up. And of course, I'll also be doing the review of it afterwards at the weekend. Lots of content coming your way. Do like, subscribe, whatever it is. Post us your subscription if needs to be. If you can't get involved on the internet, we'd love to have it. And we'll of course be here for you every single week. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Stey.

I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late. The podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.