The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Hamilton's record breaking win! | 2020 Portuguese GP Review | Episode 83

Episode Date: October 25, 2020

After a crazy start to the race, Lewis Hamilton manages to beat his teammate to take to a record-breaking 92nd victory in F1! The Late Braking boys break down all the action.Make sure to SUBSCRIBE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to look out for new episodes every Thursday and Grand Prix Sundays. Hello, and a very well welcome to the late breaking Formula One podcast. My name is Ben Hocking. Guys, can you hear me okay? No. Ben, where are you?

Benny, there. Sorry, what? What? Okay, the joke is we're in the same place. for the first time in a long, long time. I can see you both. It's a shame, but I can see you both. We can speak at the same time

and they've got the any lag or anything like that. This situation is regrettable. Anyway, let's talk about crazy Formula One stuff. Even the intros are a bit more normal when we're together. I like how that's our version of normal, but there you go. Plenty to discuss. The Portuguese Grand Prix review, of course, at the Algarve Circuit, Portemau. Lewis Hamilton taking win number 93, meaning he stands out by himself now, the most wins ever.

Sorry, 92. You've given him a win already? Well, it'll win the next one, weren't it? I'm just previewing for that one. I'll put this on the podcast for Imola. Oh, thank you, yes. Sorry, 92 wins to his name, going one ahead of Michael Schumacher and in the process going ahead of Valtry Bottas by 77 points in the championship. Bottas second, Vastappen rounded out the podium.

but I tell you what, it was a bit of a crazy start, was it not? Carlos Sines deciding to spice things up a little bit. The soft tyres turning on straight away. The medium's having a bit of a lion. Didn't want to get out of bed too early in the morning. What did you make at the start, Harry? It was madness. I mean, we've not watched the race together ever,

and that was the start we got to watch. Yeah, that was great. That was pretty lovely, actually. The screaming that came from this building that we're in, must have disturbed. The neighbours. Really sorry neighbours. Yeah, blind me.

I mean, science, absolute. menace tearing it out that front road. I mean, all soft tie runners bar for Stappen. Who probably, without the Perez thing, might well have been. An album. Less said better, really. Sorry, Alex.

Yeah, just the medium tie is just not having a good time, were there at the start. It didn't even take one lap. It took a solid like four latch before, even the Merck's to get the mediums to work. But then after that, it was fine. But yeah, Carlos, sign's making all the moves. And big credit to big, big, big, Kimmy Wicaykin. I mean, wow.

We'll speak a bit more in depth about Kimmy Reiklin later on and what a race he had. Didn't end up in any points, but ultimately only won retirement. So hard to see an alpha getting points in a race like that. What a start. And yeah, Carlos signs making that run for the lead. Through the first few corners, obviously the staff on alongside Bottas, and Bottas does his job and gets him out of the way, you think, all right, back to normality now.

Everything will go, we'll be fine. And then the medium size are just like, no. No. I don't want to do it. I mean, we all thought that Votas was going to have it because he got past Hamilton, of course. There's a Maca at the front. It was just astounding. I am so baffled.

And it was good up and down. You know, like the Claire drops all the way back. Perez gets spun on that fourth corner, of course. And then, oh, just madness. This is what I love about this crazy calendar that we've got. The fact that we are racing in off-season circuits, So we don't usually go to. And drivers don't want what to do.

They don't have the data. The tyres don't work for because Porelli are going to have tested them around here before. And it's just producing pure spice in the content. And I love it. I love it. Yeah. I mean, soft tyres good for one lap at a start, bad for literally everything else.

I mean, we were expecting, even though the soft tires didn't do great in that first thing, when Ocom went on to the fresh soft tires against Ricardo, who had been on mediums since nearly the start of the race. Auckland didn't have it over Ricardo. And same with Perez as he was overtaken twice at the end. But that start, I can't get over it. And we actually recorded ourselves at the start of the race, any of the beat throughout the race, which we'll put into a video.

But Sam's reaction to Carlos Signs taking the lead. I've seen some outburst of emotion from Sam, plenty of times. But that one's up there. Yeah, that'd be a head phone warning, possibly if you're watching the video very soon. Next week it will probably be out when you're listening to this. I can't believe it. A Macca legitimately took the lead on pace. No red flag business, no safety cars, no pit stops.

Pure overtakes from a Macca on a Mercedes. You love it. Love to see it. Yeah. We'll go into the Mercedes race a little bit more in a bit. But we did, of course, reference both Red Bulls, but specifically for this topic, Max Verstappen didn't get away very well.

He got away well, but the Perez incident held him back. We saw what Carlos Seines was able to do on the softs. We saw what Camille Reichen was able to do on the softs. do you think Sam that Vastappen not getting that good start and getting into the lead from that first lap held him back in the race? Yeah, massively. We know what Max is like. When he feels like he's got his teeth into something, he's got his fingers around something. He goes for it.

He almost has that extra little bit of drive that turned up. When Max is on it, he's really on it. And when something doesn't suit Max, it seems to be a little bit difficult for him to ease into it. And he still put out a great performance. Third was probably, I think, realistically, the best he was going to get. But Bossass was clearly struggling. And I think that for Stappen, he gets a little bit lucky maybe with the reaction against Botas.

He maybe stays in front of Bottas. Hamilton is struggling. Maybe he gets the early leader than he's fighting science up front instead of Hamilton Bottas signs. There's a real chance that the Red Bull stays there for at least 20-30 laps, at least close, I think.

But it was tough. The Presidency was, I think, a racing instinct. It was, I think, judged well by the FIA on that one. And yeah, yeah, he struggled. And the likes of Ghazley, you know, Kimi and whatnot. We're just doing a fantastic job. So, for Stappen got the most out of the race, I realistically think he would have got any way. But I do think we've had more of a spicy fight towards the end of the race.

If he just got that little bit extra off the first colour of laps. What do you reckon, Harry? Because, I mean, it was a couple of seconds that signs built up initially. Of course, they ate into that fairly quickly. But if it's a Red Bull rather than signs in that spot, does he get a few more seconds advantage and make more of a race a bit? Yeah, I would say he would. If you look at the gap that Bottas had over the Stappan at the end

and consider where Vastappen was at the end of that first lap, first couple of laps. If he had been in Sons's position, you know, maybe as Sam said, towards the end of the actual race, we could have been seen a spicy fight, maybe not for the lead, but potentially for P2, could have still been, I think likely still P3 for Vastappen, but yeah, it was costly. And especially in, you know, in those sort of damp, cold conditions that we had at the very start, that's kind of very excells, but obviously he lost out. To be fair, when he, when he, it was chaos at the start, when he spun Perez, he was still kind of in third and fourth.

And then I don't really know what happened after that. He just dropped back, maybe it was just, I don't know. Checking the car was all right or something like that. But yeah, it could have been, difference between P2 and P3, but I still think that Merckes would have had it in the end. Yeah, I think the likelihood is that Max Vestapen would have finished P3 regardless of whether he had a good start or not,

but I think he would have made a much better fight out of it, just because if you think Vestappen, it's tough to tell how a race will evolve, but just say that Vastappen takes the lead at the start there, Sines is in P2. Sines is then a bit of a buffer. You know, both Mercedes have to get past signs. And Vestappen, I believe in that time Vestappen would have opened up a few second advantage, maybe five seconds or so, which doesn't sound like a lot.

But when Vestappen came into the pits for the first time, which was before the Merck's obviously starting on the softs, it was not a factor whatsoever. the Mercedes didn't have to respond to it to all they could just let him get on with his race they knew they had the gap if he'd got that slight advantage at the start of the race I think he would have when Vesappen gave him into the pits

I think Bottas or Hamilton might have had to have responded to it and if Bostas was coming in earlier than he needed to we know his tire management is a bit iffy maybe the end of that race rather than 10 seconds at the flag or 8 seconds at the flag maybe it's only one or two seconds Yeah it's funny how a slight change in the timeline can make the whole team think entirely different throughout the entire race. We've seen it before, haven't we?

I mean, look at Silverstone, where Verstappen was there and the faster car on that hotter condition, that Hamilton and Bottas were constantly what's Vastepin doing, how we cut off the Stapin, how we get rid of the Stappan, whereas here they were allowed to just run their own race. They weren't they clear signs? It would, Mercedes be Mercedes from start to finish. So I think Staphan, Edges in front, he's the only person on this whole track at the moment that is able to actually trouble those guys.

And when he's not there, I mean, we saw it out. It becomes an absolute victory fest for the Murgis. This almost came unraveled yesterday by not qualifying on the mediums. Yeah. That's where all went. Obviously, you would have struggled on that one today, but I think if you, again, like I said, I think he had a much better, well, I said to you, but when we were watching it, he's having a much better second stint on the mediums compared to the hards,

which, you know, fair enough, it should be better. But I just think he would have been more of an evil playing field, if he'd been on the mediums and gone to the house like the Merks, which else he couldn't do. So yeah, which, and yeah, I mean, fair play for Mercedes for seeing that it was, and Ferrari, well, Mercedes and Ferrari for seeing that one. Strategy gods Ferrari, as they are commonly known.

Yeah, so fair play for them for spotting it and Redpool, who normally are pretty good at that for not really cluing onto it because they were quicker in Q1 where I think maybe Max used, mediums, not sure. Anyway, yeah, it could have been a different story, but anyway, you live and learn. I think what happened with the strategy call in qualifying is, of course, Ferrari don't see themselves as a competitor with Mercedes. So they can go, we'll copy Mercedes, we'll look at the bulk strategy, we'll make it work. We've seen that the staffing specifically, and Red Bull as a team, like to do an alternate switch to Mercedes to try and get a cut or to try and jump them at the start.

So because of that, and they obviously don't know the data, we've never been to Port an Al before, they look at that, I think Mercedes qualifies. find the mediums, we'll go up the sauce, we'll get a better start, we'll jump them, we'll lead the racing and we'll control the place from there. It hasn't worked off because we're driving around on 8th degree track temperature, which is almost unheard of in normal Formula One seasons. We tend to be kind of like the usual summer point wherever we are in the world. Very rarely do get a really, really cold race day. And now the Eiffel GP in Erburg ring poured them out.

And I think even when we go to Imler, it's going to be colder than usual. We're seeing a real change in how the tyres work. So I think Red Bull may need to change up how they're approaching qualifying of the start of the race with their strategy calls to possibly getting anything back off in the same. Yeah, I mean, I would say that, yeah, I would agree that Red Bull do often just do the opposite for the sake of it because they know they have to do something different in order to give themselves the best chance of victory. I would put more of the more of the credit almost on Ferrari rather than Mercedes just because theoretically at nearly every Grand Prix is better to start on the

mediums than the softs. It's just so happens at Portamaoumou. It was much, much better to start the mediums than the softs. Mercedes do it a lot of the time. Ferrari don't do it a lot of the time. In normal circumstances, we'd laugh at it and say, no chance, what are you doing? So it was very, very good strategy. And we did for Sebastian Betel, actually.

Yeah. You look at Sebastian Betel though, and if his teammate can do it. I think the question has to be asked more towards Vettle specifically than Ferrari. Has proven he has got the talent of a racing goal at the moment. And Sebastian Betel, a four-time champ, third of the all-time win record, is qualifying behind

George Russell in 15th place, that's more on his ability, I think, than the actual strategy call. They tried to do it, but it just shows that he just simply doesn't have that ability at the moment in that car. And I think this kind of brings us nicely on to the next point of Portemau itself and what sort of a track it is and how it fits in on the calendar and how it's been ushered in for this one year only, we would lead to believe. And how, yeah, out of season tracks and how that works. You know, the tyres, they use the C3 to C3. range, which they've done before, but the way in which it worked with that track, they don't have data previously.

And this, yeah, this works into how they qualified as well, even with the three practice sessions, without any previous years data. It's very interesting to see. I mean, what do you make, Sam, of having these races outside of the normal seasons and perhaps having more variety on the calendar going forward? I mean, I love it. The excitement is always going to be there, isn't it? We've got the same with Gellello.

I personally thought Gellio was going to be a scoose fest. I mean, there weren't a lot of action. natural on-track overtakes, but there was a lot of close racing. When there were overtakes, people had to get them done manually. I mean, you look at the fight that we have between Perez and Ocon today in Porta-Nal. Incredible battles, side-by-side for about half a lap. And Gellar was much of the same. When you did get side-by-side, it was brilliant jewelling.

So interesting tracks create interesting racing, as we've seen, that is proven. When they're off-season, Pirelli haven't got the tie dated to make them work in a normal way that they should. Cars can't read exactly what needs to be done. And of course, we don't know the best strategy when to pit, when the tide's going to drop off, what's the best overlap, what's the best underlap? We don't understand that difference. And I think we should definitely try and rotate the calendar a little bit. Let's not start in Australia in the peak summer.

Let's start somewhere else. Actually, it's a bit cooler, you know. We're at Melbourne, when it's just starting to come into the warmest period of the year for that area of the world, why we're starting Silverstone in March, where actually it's a bit cooler. There's a chance of rain. Let's kick it off in Europe. You can have it all that happened. I'd also be in favour of at the end of each season, teams are having to delete their previous data

and not use it when coming to each weekend and having to start completely fresh and at least that gives a proper reason to free practice. If we're going to have those free practice sessions, at least use something to gather back data and try and create the best session possible you can there. Because otherwise, it does become the same thing. Year in, year out, when you turn out to attract

because you've got decades of data at this point. I think places like Albert Park, you know what the best strategy is and you've used as predatory and you know how it works. Delete that data. Mentally, yes, you've got some experience. You've got nothing written down and you've got to go and gather that all over again. I've really been in favour of off-season races within reason. Let's not go into the Arctic. And then no data allowed at the start of the Grand Prix weekend. You have to do it again yourself. Dear Mr. Carey, Silverstone in December, please. Kind regards. Late break.

make it happen. Yeah, so the uncertainty did lead to some of the points that we've already raised, Harry, do you think that sort of Sam's line of thinking with spicing up the calendar, even same races, but at different times a year? Yeah, I mean, it's two out of two for races we've never been to before, being good. So it's clearly, you know, lack of data. Yeah, we didn't have the data to know that the soft tires would be good on that one and not for the rest of the race.

So then we had that race. So, yeah, I'll be all for it. And, like, say, having it at different times of the year. You know, we had even, like, Silverstone in August, where it's potentially a bit hotter, that second weekend. I mean, both weekend tires are an issue, obviously, with the punctures the first time round. Second weekend, Verstappen looked after his tyres better.

So, yeah, just let's mix it up. I know, you know, it's easy for us to say, and logistically, maybe it's more difficult. But if this year's showing anything, it can be done. we can go to all, not all corners, but most corners of the earth, at whatever time we want to. Yeah. And, you know, I'd hazard a guess the races we have at Imala, Turkey,

barring out of the loop to an extent will still be as good as the ones we've had. Sorry if I've just chinks down. Let's hope. I mean, Abu Dhabi's yet to come and looking at you, Catamalia, that was still a snooze fest. Yeah, I mean, I just don't even regard Abu Dhabi. To me, to me, barring, you know, Outer Loop is the finale and then I'm going for a nap. Yeah, yeah. Fair enough.

Now, I was actually going to bring up Catalonia and say that even putting Catalonia at a different time of year, it wasn't enough to spice it up. But the sentiment is good. Like, Catalonia in August compared to in May, massive difference. Nurbuggering, the cold temperatures we saw there. Really interesting to see how the teams responded to that. getting the tyres warmed up today was a real problem changeable conditions to a degree having even slight rain caused some drama at the start

and later on didn't quite happen but having Portemau in October if we had this race in July it would have been a probably full sunshine all the way through no question whatsoever and it would have worked the same as every other European race but yeah I think logistically it is difficult because you want to do sort of all of the time zones relatively in the same amount of time,

but having some late season and early season European races, I think would really cause the teams to think a bit more. And I wouldn't have any problem with them changing that up, you know, as they probably will with the likes of Bahrain. You know, Bahrain's going to nearly close the season this year. And if, you know, if we're led to believe the calendar

next year will be something back to normal, it will probably be very close to the start next year. So I've got no problem in doing that sort of thing. I think it could make it very interesting. And Algarve itself, I think proved itself. It was a really good. race. The Perez Ocon racing was fantastic. I think if they

return here with the newer cars, if they work as expected, fingers crossed, we get more racing like that. I think perhaps they need to assess how much DRS you get on the first the main straight and introducing the IRS possibly on the other straight at least for the time being whilst it's necessary.

But yeah, I was really impressed with the race. Just need to sort out the drains a bit, but other than that. It's minor issue, though, isn't it? Yeah. bit of going on the system. No, it was that. It's fine.

All right. Let's move on to driver of the day. Who have you got, Sam? I mean, there was some real stunning drive. Sergei Perez, I think it's a race in the incident. I don't think it's his fault. I don't think it's Max's fault. I mean, Perez did the right thing to try and around the other side. They just happened to not be as much room as he thought it happens.

The charge from a century last place and stopping to get all the way up to fifth. He only got jumped on the last couple laps by those two guys. He finished in seventh place. Brilliant, brilliant drives for Sergio Breed. 100%. If anyone says, Sergio Greas, I can agree with it. I can get on board with it. Another one, Pierre Gasly, just looks so good at the moment. He's up there for me, I think, for driving the season currently. And it has proved it again today. Pace in bundles for Pierre Gassley, you absolutely love to see that. Shola Claire, again, brilliant job from Shola Clair.

Not too far off, Max Verstappen. Definitely the best for the rest, after the top three by country mall when his teammates are four-time World Champ can barely scrape into the point. It's lucky to get one point today. And Lewis Hamilton, 92 race wings, 25 seconds over his teammate. The biggest wing margin we've seen all season, put Votas to shame a little bit this Grand Prix. I'm going to give it to Parades just because I absolutely love the ability.

But I think Hamilton for me is about 1% behind, and then it's gasoline. But all incredible drives. All right, Perez gets in for Sam. What are you, Harry? All right of those I agree with. But I'm just going to have to give it to Kimmy I can't.

Fair enough. No pensioner should be able to do that on lap one of the GP. It's just not allowed. It's filthy. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely filled from Kimstead. But yeah, I agree.

Perez was stunning. So was Ghazley. But yeah. And to be fair, Kimmy, you know, he obviously dropped back a fair bit from where he jumped up to at the start. But he held his own.

Didn't get a point in the end. Be Albon. He did be Albon. So there you go. I don't know who that says more about but um yeah no i'm gonna get for kimster because that's just you know he's an old man now and he was making everyone look silly at the start even people on soft ties yeah not just on mediums that's that's just true i'll go for kemy purely purely for that but hamilton perry is ghast the

first time since we've done the podcast it's someone to give a kimudai kna yeah quite possibly congratulations kimmy you've made it into the hall of thing yeah and not only that you've actually got your own topic later on kimmie rikin and so congratulations we'll also be talking alban unsurprisingly, so stay tuned for that. But driver of the day, Kimmy Reichen and yeah, like you say, sensational. If you haven't seen his onboard first lap, do go out of your way because it is worth your time.

He went out of his way. I mean, the comment was it looked like he was racing against the worst possible AI on an F1 game, which is possibly the most accurate description of it. I'm not going to give it to him, but yeah, he's definitely in contention. Names have already mentioned, Perez, Gazley,

Hamilton, all superb. I'm going to give it to Charles LeCler. He was 30 seconds away from fifth place. That's in a Ferrari, which we've seen at parts this season has not really been much stronger than the bottom three teams. Now, Vettel had a solid race, but he was still P-10. Charlotte, six places above his team, mate. Excellent qualifying performance yet again, held his own. He did a good job at the start, obviously lost four positions at the start, which wasn't perfect,

but he did enough not to... Exactly. It's not like he was the only one to have that issue. Yes, exactly. And I think there was the potential to lose out even more. He did enough to stay in contention with those soft runners so he could get them back in the next few laps. So he avoided, essentially that's what he had to do, knowing what we know now is avoid disaster at the start. Because once that happened, the mediums came into their own and he was able to pick drivers off in a Ferrari which has not really picked off many drivers this year. You did a really good job. I was so impressed.

Be a pit stop and a half ahead of a fifth place guy in a car like that. Yeah, drive for the day from that. That car is still down on power as well because we saw him try to pick someone off that straight. And then he pulled out of the slip stream and then it's like, nope. You aren't going forward to getting in some chance. So yeah, fair. Yeah. And if people don't think that Cheryl LeClaire is already brilliant and hasn't got the potential to be a superstar in F1. I will debate you. Actually, no, I'll fight you.

I believe in it that much. Worst driver of the day, Sam, have you got? Oh, worst driver of the day. Now, I reckon a lot of people will say Botas, and I'm not going to say Bottas. Botas did not have a good drive, but we discussed this while we were watching the race together, which is a novelty for us.

Bottas still managed to do what Bottas and Eads could do for his team. He came in behind his team, mate, and brought him the maximum amount of points. for Masege. So fair play, yet against his teammate, he was not good. But overall against the rest of the race, he did a good enough job. If you

look at the other side of the top battle, Bastape and the man in third place, Albon finished behind Vettel. Albon started in what? Sixth place? Yeah. He finished behind Vettel who started in 15th place. And Kimi

Rikening, who started even further behind that? And Paris who was 20th. And Pratt. Who was the wrong. way round on the first lap. We're going to talk about it a little bit, but that for me was from going in a coffee for Albuhran at Red Bull. It was disastrous.

That is by far for me the worst driver of the day. Also, shout to Ockon, that on a minute. He went 54 laps on medium tyres and still beat his teammate. Fifth place he finished. Based on the evidence as well, I'm sure he'd have kept going with those mediums until like the last lap where he could pit for softs. Sorry to cut the worst part of the day, but Ockon also deserves his chat.

But yeah, for me, Albon, most trouble. Agreed? Someone else, Harry? I mean, our one was not great. Great assessment. Thank you. But I'm going to give it to Danny Kfayette, because I think he might have only just finished the race. Oh, yeah, just come across the line. Just come across the line now.

Yeah. He was miles away. Oh, hang on. I'm getting official confirmation. Yes, he has crossed the line. Oh, Dan, Daniel. Congrats, Danny. Yeah.

Yeah, if we're talking about gaps between teammates, etc. That's a whopper between Ghazley and Kofiafeyer. I'll throw Lance troll into the mix as well for not using his mirrors. He loves to be taken out of turn one. But yeah, I'll go Kfayat because that was just good. I know he got whacked with a penalty, but then it was his own fault.

So, yeah, Danny, mate, sort your life out. In terms of contenders, I would raise the same names. Albon, you got lapped by his teammate. You can't get lapped by your teammate in a race where you haven't been unfortunately hit off of something along those lines. Bottas, yeah, not a great race for him,

but still P2. So, yeah, I'm not going to give it to him either. Kviat is an obvious contender too. I am going to give it to Landstrol. Just because Perez was able to show what he could do, going all the way down to last, having a pit stop straight away, coming back into the race,

very nearly holding on to P5, but still getting solid points. You know, I've got no doubt that with his tyre, saving skills, he'd have been in a probably P5 behind Leclair, if not ahead of him. So Perez did a great job. And Stroll, by contrast, we commented on this in the race that those that started outside the top 10 who had a free choice of tyre and nearly all of them went for the mediums apart

from Goat Kimmy. They all were in a great position as, you know, as Vettel kind of demonstrated and a few others, Ocon demonstrated. Stroll was demonstrating that as well. He was picking off the soft runners and you think, okay, he's got a real chance to finish in around P5, P6, in around where Gassley was. And then he ruined it for himself, you know.

And that practice incident, I put that on, I put that on the Stappen. But I said at the time, if it was a race condition, I'd put it on Strull. And lo and behold, the same thing happened. Only one person has been punted off of turn one this weekend. And he's actually twice. But it's Lance Stroll.

So he is technically the only person has first-hand experience and the staff, and I guess that it's a pinch point of turn one if someone's on your inside. They didn't leave the space. It's fair. And we saw it a few times later in the race. Two guys go through there and make it happen, make it work. It's a fast corner. The guy on the inside is going to struggle.

All of the time, they all left the space. Apart from Lark Stroll, who was the one victim of it previously. Yeah. Yeah. It was really disappointed because I do think he was in a great position to score points. and Sergio Perez is showing what he can do. And Stroll's had a fairly good season. Don't going to be wrong, but Stroll's got the seat next year,

and Perez hasn't. He needs to start showing that it was the right call. That cry from Perez was what I expected if someone like Hamilton had been brought to the back. He showed pace that I don't think that racing point actually has the ability to cut through that track. I think the offseason stuff helped, the tyres helped. But what a demonstration from Sergio. If that isn't an advert of sign me up, I don't know what it is. I'd still, like, it was incredible.

I'm still baffled how he was in that position. I couldn't work it out. He gained about 20 seconds in like two laps. Because he was facing the wrong way. And I know everyone was quite slow on the first couple of laps. He was facing the wrong way. He came back around. It didn't look like he had to make up that gap and he did.

Then went to the pits. Yeah. And then made up the gap. See, I was for a time convinced that the graphic was wrong. And he hadn't picked. Yeah. I couldn't work out how he'd managed to do it. Definitely.

Anyway, moment of the race. from being with your two best friends, Sam. For the record, that's me and Harry. Oh, okay. What was your moment of the race? Carlos Sikes taking the lead was pretty spectacular. I think that that laid down everything we want F1 to be. It was what we've been looking for for so long,

for someone to just cut through and take the lead like that. The mixture of the cold slightly damp track, the tyres not working, a new track, a car that hasn't won for God knows how long now, jumping into the front it was it was a polymer of what f on maybe with the new regulations in a year and a half time really could be like and i'm excited for it so science fantastic performance that moment was just brilliant moment of the race harry uh off on the there is yeah yeah yeah i'm on the same kind of thought training that's you know what fon could be like all the time please like it all the time uh yeah that was

just and not a DRS pass and it was just side by side stuff switchbacks, all of that. Oh and also Kimmy Wryking's Switchback in the hell out of. Oh, I don't even remember who it was against. It was signs. Yeah.

See, old man, knows what he's doing. I did say at the time, I don't think he's performed a Switchback in about five years, but fair play to him. It was it called a Switchback when he used to do it. It's called the Overhand. Yeah, I remember those old days back in the seven My moment at the race also involves Kimi Reichenen.

And I love the moment of Sines taking the lead and the start that he got. But it was all on camera. You know, Signs got the lead. For the record, everyone, I wear glasses because I look to the left and saw the tower and saw that Kimmy Rikinen was seventh. But of course, the camera wasn't catching this. It was catching signs taking the lead. The glasses were off.

Give him a good old clean. Go within one metre of the TV. No, that definitely says Kimmy 7th. Yeah, that was mad. I couldn't quite believe that was right. What a start he made. Just his start in general. What a good race.

I ain't quite shocked at how good the race was. It was a great race. Porter now? Do it again, please. Okay, it was a great race, but it wasn't a great race for one driver. Baltry Bottas. Fastest in FP1. Fastest in FP2,

fastest in FP3. Q1, guess what? He was fastest. It was fastest in Q2 as well. And then he wasn't fastest in Q3. But it was for like a minute. He was for all of Q3, but the last lap. Lewis Hamilton pipped him in qualifying.

Valtry Bottas does get the lead in the race, but then concedes it and doesn't win the race, obviously. So it's a bit of a classic Valtry Bottas session, really. It was a classic weekend for him. Do you think, well, focus on the positives. Do you think that was Hamilton's, anyone's best victory of the season. Oh, I think that was pure, vintage, like, world champion, right?

If you were to put the greatest football times on the list, whatever you want to have it, which said there's many a time, doesn't matter where you have them, but as long as you have certain people, in it, that is what you expect from someone on that list. It's a tough start. It's difficult to get through. The conditions are all over the place.

He did not have a great start after the first couple of corners, right? He dropped back, I think, to third or fourth place at one point, and he just pulled something out of the way. the bag. It was just like something magical happened and he was like, right, I'm going to do it now. And the gap between him and Bottas got to about two and a half seconds at one point. And I think we even commented, Bottas has got this now. That's a big enough gap that he can manage this to Hamilton.

And also, I think it was Bono, retirees. Retires aren't working. And we're like, all right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I said, I think that's a sign. I think actually he's playing a game. And then the next lap, fastest lap of the race. The next lap, fastest lap of the race. The next lap, fastest lap of the race.

camera cuts, Hamilton is two-tenths away from Bottas, sails past him. Hamilton was almost like he was in a different type of car. It was so, so good. And when some of Hamilton's calibre is so on it in that kind of race, I don't know who can stop.

You have to line off all the greatest of all the times of one grid to actually make it possible for actually a fair competition there. Bottas was very good. And I think, as we saw, if Bottas was on his own, Bottas would probably want that race quite comfortably. But he wasn't.

He was with Lewis Hamilton, who was having one of his best days. And I can't deny that I think Hamilton will probably be anyone in the other car, do they? Do you think that this was evidence of the tyre management difference between Bottas and Hamilton and how good they are respectively at that skill? Yeah, I just think the thing is, with most races, Bottas wins. He gets in front and he just stays there. He doesn't normally come from behind them and win, but there's two in the row now that he's got.

got him from, or been in front and lost, excuse me, I'll leave that out of. Yeah, and I just think Hamilton was on one today and yeah, like I agree with Sam. Even if the Stappen had been in that other Mercedes, I'm not sure that he would have beat him.

I think just Hamilton was on it in another, in another zone. We just saw the amount of times he smashed the fastest lap, just kept going and going. Yeah, I mean, just we've said it so many times. There's not much more bottom. can do, I don't think.

He's doing, and, you know, like you said, Ben, it's so tough being a Bottas fan. Because he's so, he's so quick. He is such a quick driver, but he's just up against an even quicker one. And I don't know, there's not much more he can do about it, even when he smashes the start like he did today. So, yeah, poor Walter.

But I don't think anyone's going to touch Lewis today. Yeah, I think in terms of, in terms of skill, obviously Hamilton's incredibly skilled. But it's not a skill that makes him one of the absolute greatest of all time. It's that he's able to use that skill and harness it when he needs to. We see Bottas fastest in practice sessions so often. And he has got the pace. He's got a very similar pace to Lewis Hamilton, particularly in a short stint.

But over these long stints, when Lewis Hamilton needs to pull it out the bag, he just does. And he does time and time again. And I'm really glad that he broke the record today, obviously. I didn't really mind either way whether he broke it or not. He deserves it, no doubt about that whatsoever. But I'm really glad that he did so on a race where he pulled it out the bag. It was an excellent performance from him. I would probably say it's his best performance since winning at Hungary last season.

I don't think, I don't know if there's been a better race from Hamilton since that point, because the gap that he was able to open up was seriously impressive. Even on a bad day, it's usually 10 seconds, Bottas Hamilton, difference or so. So it's very rarely 20-25 as it was there. So, yeah, a really impressive performance from Hamilton. It's really tough for Valtrey Bottas. He does have the hardest job in F1. I really do believe that.

He was quick, but ultimately, a race where Thai conservation was so important. I just don't think Bottas in that department stands any chance against Lewis Hamilton, and it showed out there. I mean, Bottas has paid that price a couple of times in Thai management, hasn't we spoke about our seven best drivers on the group thing. I said, you know, I got mocked a little because both Hamilton and Bottas got a puncture, but Hamilton got a puncture halfway around the last lap and was able to win the race. Because of his tyre management being better, Bottas lost out on any points. And that's the difference between a World Champ and a second place in the championship.

And I think that Bottas needed to do what Hamilton did, always at the start of his career and start to harness each individual element of what it takes to be a race winner. His Saturday performances are there. I think Bottas regularly will be able to be close enough that he's got a chance. at leading the race after turn 1. That's okay. His starts aren't amazing. Work on them.

Hamilton was awful at starts about three, four seasons ago in comparison to his teammate. It's one of his best attributes now. He's brilliant at starting. You know, consistency on the tyreware. Bottas has just been poor. We've said that,

but Bottas has been so poor on those tyreware. And then wheel to wheel racing. We saw it next for Staffan today. It was good. He got the elbows out. He forced him for Staffan just to the point of it being fair. But so regularly, Hamilton will just breeze past Wattuck.

That was the fight. Oh, excuse me. What was the fight in to turn one? Get more emotion over a night's second victory. It's fair. He used to start off his game. Hamilton does it every season. If Hamilton wasn't there, Bottas

would be a world champ. Oh, Bottas, you could be so much more. I mean, just take Lewis Hamilton out of the equation. Oh, exactly. Well, it wouldn't have been last season? Last season? You would have been season before? Yeah, yeah.

I thought the staff came second last season. Did he? I'm pretty certain. Oh, no. Oh, no. I think he did. Oh, he did. Oh, no.

Oh, no. I think he did. Okay. Well, this year he would. Oh, no. But what's going to happen now? We've got Imala and Istanbul and then the first race at Bahrain. So Bottas is going to win all three of those and get the fastest lap.

And he's got a one-point lead then. He's got a one-point lead because Hamilton's going to DNF for all three of them. Two races to go, championship on. Can't wait to see it. Optimistic thinking? That's very optimistic. Please, race gods. Just a bit.

Dear Mr. Carey, it's Ben again. Anyway, should we move on to a much brighter topic? And that is the excellent performance of Alex and the Albin. Yes, it was just cool, everything. So Alex Albin, as you said, Sam, started sixth place, ended up finishing outside of the points, P12, just behind Kimmy Reichen and Sebastian Vessel, who played with the final point.

Two-stop race for Albin, didn't work out for him. Ended up getting lapped, not only by the race leader, but also by third place for Stapp and his teammates. We know that Red Bull are basing their decision across these few races, more specifically probably this one, and Imala, maybe Istanbul as well. Is there anything that Alban can do at the next race that can save his seat, do you think?

I mean, win. I mean, yeah, I don't want to sound ridiculous, but I think it's all but gone for Albon. And Albon would need to have a race where the staff of finishes maybe third or fourth on pure pace, no issues, and somehow Albon doesn't just beat the Staffan on page, he beats one of the Merck's. I think then, if he does that a couple of times, he can't even do it once, because it's not consistent enough. He can have to do it two or three times to really show he's ready. And I can't see him putting out of performance of that

calibre within two races. Not after what we've seen. We saw an interesting stat that after, was it, 12 races, I think Albaugh only had one more point than what Gazley had during their respective seasons at Red Bull. And people are way kinder on Albon than they were on Gazley. People were lynching Gazzley. Get him out of that sea. It's awful. It's a waste. What's the point? And every time now, Albon hasn't got the same car as this happened. Albon's driving the worst car. You know, Albon, be nice to Albon, sweetie. Red Bull are just toxic. It's like, where was this calling for Gazley? And look at what Gassley's doing. Is Gassley in front of Albon in the points now? It feels like he should be after the performances he's been having.

I mean, you need to treat drivers equally. And Albon is he's doing. performing as badly is what Gadsley did in that Red Bull. Neither were great. So either you need to be annoyed at Red Bull to change their environment and how they treat that second driving expectations that are given to that driver or Albon now has to go or win like the next few races, which is going to happen. So for me, I don't think you can realistically do anything. I think the big problem, and we've discussed this, is that Ghazley's reference point was Ricardo. It takes for Stappen. And Albin's reference point is gas-ling. So obviously it looks more favourable in that sense. Harry, do you think that one point that

was touched on in the race was that once in clean air, once Vastappen had lapped Albon, there wasn't actually a great deal between them in terms of pace. And it seems to be that his qualifying performances and his bad starts are working against him, putting him in the midfield scrap and Vastafin's just able to extend the game. Do you think that's the main problem for Album right now? Yeah. I would go with yes because you know we've seen it

in other races like you know Mugello where he got the podium again this qualifying wasn't amazing and he had to make overtakes to get

that podium and yes he was fortunate because you know Verstappen was already out of the race etc we lost about

half a field but his race pace is its strongest thing and it's the it's the bad quality even you know and yesterday

he should have been fourth he was six you know but he's still there or thereabouts, but then a bad start then compounds that makes even worse. So, yeah, it's just that's a poor combination of things to be bad at

qualifying and bad. At least if you're at Stroll, you're bad at qualifying, your goal at starts. Yeah, he is goadstrel for Starz. So at least you've got that, you know, that skill, but Alvin doesn't seem to have either of them, which is tricky because then he's got to make up a load in the race

and it's too much. He's only good after about that 20. Well, it's finally on his own When he gets settled down Yeah It's just the starts Which are a bit frantic

I wouldn't be surprised If he has got the statistic For places lost At the start of the race Most times this season All of them Yeah We've discussed this one for time

People praise his overtaking ability He shouldn't have to be making Those overtaken He shouldn't be beaten by those people In those cars But this happens Challenging Bottas of Hamilton And possibly going to take

The lead Alvin's being overtaken Byriss Stroll Perez And they're having to re-overtating in a much superior car. You should be praising someone for that. Yeah.

And ultimately, I mean, his overtaking has been solid enough in previous races, but out there today, Port-a-Mau, he was stuck behind Reikening for a large number of laps. No one's getting past Rykenen. With that Ferrari engine. I already said he'd past it. Jeez, there's not too many excuses.

I would say that the qualifying is the root of the problem. And I think if he sorts that out, I'm not saying it would completely transform, but it would definitely go a long way because ultimately, Vastappan a lot of the time, Bottas and Hamilton will be out first and second. Vastappen's got loads of clean air to work with, and he can go essentially as fast as he can go.

Alban is having to overtake all of these cars. Regardless whether they're successful or not, he's still taking more time in doing so. So it's unrealistic to expect a car in traffic to outpace a car that's not in traffic, but he shouldn't be in traffic in the first place. That's the issue. So he needs to sort out the qualified performances first and foremost,

The starts, I have a little bit of sympathy because I don't think that Red Bull is very good at starts. Because Mustafa hasn't been great, although he has been better than Albin at starts. In terms of what he needs to do, I don't know if Red Bull are just saying this to motivate Albin or whatnot. But the next few races, including this one, should not in any way decide Albin's future for me. Because Red Bull don't need someone who can pull out a performance after not pulling out 10 consecutive good performances. they need someone who is consistent across a season. Whether they keep him or not should be based on when he started last season till now. That's a much more of a representative sample.

It's everything that he's done at Red Bull. If he does one good performance at Imala or did one good performance here at Portaamau, I don't think that should decide whether he keeps the seat or not. They don't need that. They need someone who is much more consistent. So I don't think he's done enough for the role, especially when you have got strong free agents like Nico Holcomburgne, and more specifically Sergio Perez,

who I think deserves the seat. And Romano Grosjean. Kevin Magnerson's in line. I think he's probably too good for the Red Bull seat, to be honest, but... You know, box office and Verstappen in the same team. Oh, my God. It'd be a question of which one would kill the other one first.

Yeah, just to put it up here, because we didn't get to see it on the tracks for him to jump onto the podcast, but the stuffing is now 162 points after the race we've just had in Portia. Albon is now in eighth place in the driver's standings on 64 points of course didn't gain any of this race Peter Gasley is on 63 in ninth place so Gassley is actually one point behind Albon in a much inferior car Albon is also only seven points ahead of Lance Stroll in 11th place in the constructors camp in the driver's

champion so one more points like a points finish one top five finish for Lance Strull he could be outside the top of 10 and over 100 points away from his team, mate. Oh, no. There's a solid driver in there. And I think he could do a good job in F1 for years to come. I don't know if that's a Red Bull or not, but he just needs to work out that qualify it. Because I think, yeah, like I said, I don't think that would immediately transform

everything, but that's step one. I don't think he'll ever be as quick as Vastappen. I think he can work at his game. I think he could be at his absolute optimum for the rest of his career. He is not on Vastappan's level. But that's okay. Bottas isn't on Hamilton's level, and that's fine. He just needs to be that botas to Hamilton.

And until he gets to qualifying sorted, but Bottas definitely has, it's not going to happen. That's tough. I mean, going from Albin, though, to Kimmy Reichen, because he does deserve his topic of the podcast after what was not only an excellent first lap, but just generally an excellent grand prix. He did a great stint on the softs that no one really liked after the first few laps, and did a good job of conserving the tires until the end. Didn't get any points, but I think that was more down to the race itself.

I think if there were a few more retirements from the top few guys, he would have found his way in there, similar to Grosje on the and the Nurembergene kind of thing. Still going to mention that. Did I predict that? God. Can't remember that. But thank you for reminding me, Harry. That was great of you.

What did you make of, what did you make of Kimmy Rikin's race? Did it show enough for you? Because there are rumours that he will. will be reinstated at Alfa Romeo next year. Do you think that shows that there's still life in the old dog yet? I think so. And I think that this, well, that start and this performance as a whole, combined with Monza, restarted Monza shows that he's, you know, we know Kimi, he doesn't look

enthusiastic or sound enthusiastic or act, act enthusiastic, but he is, he just loves racing. He loves that today what he did on lap one, he loves it. That's all he wants to do is just drive fast cars and race other people. And again, same with what we saw in Monza. He just loved battling people. And, you know, his car's not the fastest, but the wily old fox that he is. I don't know what he did to the tyres to make sure that they were working. But they were working at that start today.

So, you know, and he held on to just missing out on the point. But yeah, I think that was more of an encouraging performance from Kimmy. It looks like they're going to keep him and Giovanni anyway, whether we agree with that or not, I don't know. But yeah, you know, if Kimmy's happy to stay, then they'll keep him, I think, just for the experience he has and for the knowledge I think he'll help to bring for 2020. We don't know whether the Mick or Schumacher

or any of the rookies will be in that second seat next year, but it would make sense to plunk one alongside him. and he's, you know, performances like today's show that he does still have it purely all down to that switch back on science. I'm still fully expecting for a video at some point to come out where Kimmy Reichenham before the race start is actually got a Bunsen burner and just putting it to his tyres, just to keep him warm. That's the only explanation for how quick he was at the start. Yeah, yeah, it's going to come out at some point. What did you make a Kimmy's performance, Sam? Because, I mean, I would say this is best.

It didn't get any points, but that was great performance. I've been fairly critical of Kimi-Riking on this season. I think it's fair to be critical of Kimi-Riking so far this season. He hasn't been groundbreaking. She even actually has beating him over across the season at the moment. And yet, Kimmy seems to be the favourite to possibly keep his seat. But here it brought him out, it was a great performance from him. You know, qualifying was not great, but the recovery on that one,

and then the consistency in the drive for the rest was fantastic. He kept a red ball behind him the entire race. He was battling with semi-Veere in a car where his teammate, best-st-to-mate, Lecler, was able to finish fourth. He was on the brink of points. I do think he was flattered slightly

by the Lark-Stroll and Norris incident that allowed him to go from Prorewall that would be maybe a P-13, B-14, up to very close to being in the points. Same was Sebastian Vettel. But it was a good drive from Kimi. And it was great to see. Unfortunately, one good performance

does not mean you get to keep your seat next season. And unfortunately, for Kimmy, I feel like the last 12 months have not been enough to ensure that he gets another seat for another year in Formula One where you've got people like Callumailot who might never actually end up in a Formula One seat and I think thoroughly deserve it.

Nick Schumacher will probably get it if he wins the title this season but again, if that's delayed by a year because 5003-year-old Kimmy Ryken just likes doing it as a hobby yes, fine. I guess that if you want to do it, you should get to do it at the same time. Move over it. little bit. Come on. You've had a very long time. Make way.

So I don't think he should carry on in that seat. It looks like he's going to. But it was nice to see a bit of fight from a bit of fire in the belly from Kimmy. And if he carries it on for the rest of the season, brilliant. That is brilliant, because that's the Kimmer we laugh. But I can't quite see it happened. It shows that there's still something in there. Even if he can't produce that consistently enough to Warren a Drive-E, it's good to see that from him. That first lap, even though I'm sure he would have been completely straight face, poke face. He would have been absolutely loving it.

It was such a good first lap. Yeah, the rest of the performance matched it as well. It wasn't just that first lap. Ultimately, you know, with these Alpha Amos and Hasse's and Williams, there's not really much point in looking at the points tallings, because it is just a question of who gets lucky on the race where the most people out from the tire, really. Joe Venanzi got lucky in the first race at Austria and ended up in the points.

That's why he's currently three, two ahead of Reichen. Same with Kubitsa last year against Russell. I would say Giga, Giga Kubitsa. I would say Magnuson's been better than Grosjean this year. If you look at the points, Grosjean's 2-1 up. I wouldn't look at the points very much to indicate as to who's been the better driver. For me, yeah, this performance by itself does not tell me that Kimmy Reikinen should have a seat next year. He needs to show it way more.

And ultimately, when Ferrari do have such a thriving academy at the moment, there are so many guys. the ones they may have going for. Exactly. There isn't much, but that's one of them. You know, they need seats somewhere. And it's not as if they should be just like a training ground for the Ferrari drivers, but there is a benefit for Alpha to have them as well because they are quality drivers. You know, Charles LeClaer benefited from being Salwa. But Salwa benefited from Charlotte LeClaer being there because he put brilliant performances in. So there's definitely potential, not only for Ferrari, but for the team itself to have one of these guys. you know, Reikinen and a younger, Reikening in Shumack and Reikening and Euler, that would work well enough.

I think, honestly, I think Jevinatsy's not shown enough for me to convince that he has a long-term successful career. I was happy enough for him to have this season after the last season, but I don't think he's progressed quite enough. But yeah, Reikinen, for me, at that stage in his career, the only benefit to having a Reikinen is if he can impart some of that knowledge on someone like Jovanazzi or a young driver. If you don't think Jovanazzi's going to make it,

then Reichen is kind of wasting his time. Is Reichen his time? That's the thing. No, not Reichen. Sorry, the team are wasting their time by having Reichenen. Yeah, almost. If that's going to be his best benefit to being in that sea. But yeah, it was great to see.

I do, yeah, it makes you remember old school Kimi. Yes. And that was fantastic. 07 Kimi. War. Please come back. Bois. With a bois, a boa and another boar. We'll round off the podcast there. Rarely seeing triple boar. Yeah, like Bois. The Holy Trinity of Boas right here on the late breaking podcast. And that is where we'll end it. Sam, whilst we're all in the same place at the same time, please get us at all right. Please get us out of it. It's emotional, isn't it? It is. Beastful stuff.

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