The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Is Hamilton responsible for poor results? | Episode 190

Episode Date: April 27, 2022

After a tough start to the 2022 season, the LB boys discuss whether they think Lewis Hamilton needs to take more responsibility for his lack of success so far. They also talk about a potential increase in the budget cap, and play F1: Higher or Lower. JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAm SUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebraking TWEET us @LBraking BUY our merch: https://late-braking-f1-podcast.creator-spring.com/ SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Lake Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the Lake Breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. I like to think that this podcast is your ray of sunshine, ladies and gentlemen. It's the highlight of your week, if not that possibly in your top 50. We'll take that as well. But we're going to kick off the podcast on a more somber note because we're not going to be the ray of sunshine this week.

Instead, I'm worried. I'm petrified, to be honest with you. And I'll explain why. If you tuned into last week's preview episode, you would have heard us talk about Carlos Sines' contract, which was duly announced the morning after we pressed published. So here we were discussing the rumors of it and then F1 decided to do that to us. The reason I'm worried here, and Sam, I'm interested, do you share this worry? Because we've got two topics on the list tonight that might very well be in a different position when people listen versus when we record.

I mean, firstly, folks, sometimes when Ben opens up the podcast, I have literally no idea what he's going to say. And he passes it to me every time and I go, I've got. I've got to reply here. This isn't part of the schedule. And folks, if you know me, I'm a very confused man. So that hadn't no idea with that. When he started saying, we're somber, I'm like, wait, what's happened? What have I done?

What have we done? Nothing is fine. Ben's actually speaking from the Graving. Still organising is better than we did. So much so. Last week, you know, Carlos signing the deal literally hours, mere hours after we finish recording the podcast. I've had several people, men. message me and go, maybe you should start recording on a Thursday because it's just not working

for you, is it? I feel like it's almost part of our comedic appeal now that we predict the news. Ironically, we're late breaking, but we're the earliest news you'll find. I think we get it right a lot of the time. So I reckon Mystic Meg, because we're talking about a few things ago, budget caps, uh, FIA, sprint races. Let's see. Can we get, I'm tapping my hair. You can't see it. Dang a wire, I feel the news to do the action, like a strange man. I wonder if we're getting it right. Let's see. Can we bait the FIA into making the decision that we want made?

Harry, any ideas what's going on in this podcast? Because I have none. The only thing I was going to add to this is entirely unrelated. My neighbours in the flat downstairs are having their bathroom redone. So if you hear any banging drills. I was wondering what that noise was. Did you hear the drill? Just about.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you hear a drill, that's what's going on. They keep randomly turning the water off. They don't tell me when that's happening. It's been a fun game I played with them today as to when I have water in my flat. So yeah, so that's an insight of town. My day's been so far.

This is payback for the fire alarm that you left on for months, I reckon. It probably is. Yeah, they're better for the beeping. Oh, that reminds me how to get a battery for the other fire alarm. Thanks, Sam. Which is also out of battery.

Man, we really never. Intros, don't we? Like, we are experts at podcast intros. Tell me I'm wrong. What I fear about this, what I fear about this is, I'm going to give too much away, but I had to send one of our podcasts to someone in a professional capacity today. And I press send, and I thought, hang on a minute, this is our podcast that we're talking about. Professional capacity. Yeah, right, right. The podcasts alone are absolutely ridiculous. ridiculous on the first five minutes, let alone they get through to any of the games that we might play at the end, which, Ben, I'm sure you'll tell us in a minute, we do have one. But I thought, bloody hell, how are we going to do anything professional with this podcast with the three of us? Absolute joke.

Goodness knows is the answer to that question. And you're right, because there will be a game coming up later today. It's the return of a classic. It's the return of F1, higher or lower. So Sam's country style is coming out a bit later on. And as well as that, we're going to be discussing the two things that Sam has already mentioned. But we're going to kick off the episode with looking at Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. Because in the immortal words of our very own Sam Sage, the start of the season for Mercedes has not been ideal.

They're not doing too good versus where they've been in previous years. And in particular, if we're looking at Mercedes in a more so interview, we've got George Russell fourth in the championship on 49 points. got Lewis Hamilton three places back in seventh, but also 21 points back on 28 points total. We even heard at the end of the Imola Grand Prix where Lewis Hamilton was unable to score points. Toto come over the team radio, apologising for a car that he described as undrivable. The question here might be a bit of a controversial one, but Sam, do you think that Lewis Hamilton needs to take more accountability for where he is versus his teammate? So I'm going to start off with the only excuse that I feel is possible for Lewis Hamilton here. And that is that they are trying to test two separate things on different parts of the Mercedes garage.

George Russell is running one version of the Mercedes car and Lewis Hamilton is running the other version of the Mercedes car. And there is no proof that any of that is true. I'm simply speculating that that could be the only reason for a difference in the results at the moment. If that isn't the case and they are running exactly the same spec of car then Lewis Hamilton

mate as much as you are very good at the F1 you need to get good at these new regulations because George Russell is the only individual to have finished in the top five for every single Grand Prix

that we've had this season and yeah the car is being difficult to drive yes they've been lucky but George Russell in a strange roundabout way is doing what we've always said a champion he's could do and that is being consistent

that is picking up points when, you know, they're difficult to get by. That is making sure that you are making the most of a bad day, being in the right place at the right time. And he is doing all of those things. He's not groundbreaking. He's not, you know, having the best races of all time. But he is delivering where it needs to be delivered.

And Hamilton now a couple of times, you know, we saw it mostly in the way where he couldn't get past the Alphotauri. He was struggling against a Williams. He was faffing around there with Ockong in the pit lane, which was an ideal. That didn't go well for him. And then the qualified performance that we saw in Saudi, again, at Jeddah, absolutely shocking for Lewis Hamilton. That was on outright pace. I mean, they certainly had some issues with the setup, but you'd expect Lewis Hamilton to be able to prevail, to work around it, to really pull something out of that car.

You're not a seven-time world champion with the most victories and the most pole positions for no reason. I know a lot of people love to just say, it's the car. Yeah, well, it's not, really. The car and the driver have to work in harmony. Hamilton made the most of that for God knows how many years in a row. So to see him knocked out in Q1 already this season, I think he's worrying. And I think he has publicly come out and said,

I'm pumped up, you know, I've moved on from what happened in Abidabee in 2021. I'm ready to almost seek revenge and I'm hungry for success. That's a great mentality to have. That's the right mentality to have. But actually, I don't think internally it's as simple as it may seem.

I think he's got in his own head. it's not gone the way that he would have wanted at the start of this season. And the car is not positive. The car is a difficult one to drive. And you combine that with the misery that he had to face at the end of last year, which wasn't just losing a championship. It was losing a championship on those ridiculous circumstances, which we all agree were not the way that you want to lose a championship.

And then his junior teammate, who stepped into the team for the first time, seems to be thriving. You know, yeah, okay, he's not winning races, but the guy's having a bloody good time of it. Lewis needs to have a bit of a mental reshake, I think. He needs to put himself together. I think he needs to start being more positive and being a bit more risky. He seems very safe on the racetrack.

I know that when you're up front and you want to consolidate victories and podiums, that makes sense. But you're fighting in the midfield now. You've got to throw the car down the inside, make it stick, and show why you're a seven-time world champion and prove it. Elevate that car. And I'll end on this. Lewis Hamilton shouldn't be bitter-bitter.

He needs to get better, better. And that is all that I'm going to say on the matter. Oh, my God. We worked so hard To be respected And you just throw it away With one comment Thought I did it all right

You were You were doing fine Oh man Such a niche reference To an ad read we did So that's good Slaggy sound I love the phrase

Reference Of a niche reference Yeah Yeah It comes from a video That came out years ago which you know what I've ever seen but now you'll know it.

Bitter, bitter. Better, better. Well, I'm assuming that's not going to be your conclusion, Harry, but you have surprised me before. So that 21 points gap between the two Mercedes drivers, does Lewis Hamilton need to take more accountability for why that is? I think he does, to be honest. It's such a weird concept this,

that Lewis Hamilton, is down on points on George Russell, predominantly because he hasn't been quick enough. Like, boggles my mind. I don't quite understand how that is. But it is the case, isn't it? The majority of those lost points came from Jeddah where he qualified in 16th.

He did recover to 10th, that's one point. And then obviously last weekend in Imola where he didn't score a single point at all. And it was a pace problem, whereas Russell made his way up in the GP. in Imola, Hamilton couldn't. So, yeah, I think he does need to take responsibility. Clearly, there's something not right with his car.

I'm not addressing Sam's tinfall, potential tinfall rumour that they've got different cars. But there's obviously something not gelling between Hamilton and this W-13. W-13? Yeah, W-13 car. And he's not able to drive around it, which, again, really, really. really baffles me because of all the drivers you'd expect to be able to drive around a difficult car you'd only say the likes of lewis hamilton max vestappan the really great drivers they tend to be able to just drive around any problem but there's something here that that hamilton can't

get around which um yeah is odd so yeah i think he does have to he just have to take most of the responsibility for obviously the car's not up to scratch which mercedes have to take responsibility for but but george is able to get something else for it that hamilton hasn't been able to so far so So yeah, in terms of his motivation, there could still be some Abidabie lingering in his mind, but it doesn't strike me, Lewis Hamilton doesn't strike me as someone who gets hung up necessarily on those sorts of things. And I think he moves on fairly quickly in his own mind.

And the focus is always on the next race. So I doubt that's playing a major role. It might be having some sort of influence, but I don't think it's a huge factor in this. but yeah look I think I think Hamilton as you say Ben he's good at the F1 I have full belief that if they sort the car I think he'll he'll definitely win a race this year but for the time being it's been a it's been a disappointing start by his own standards that's for sure firstly just to address the tinfoil hat they might not have the same cars there's more truth in it than perhaps we're joking about

I know it has been heavily discussed within the panic. They don't necessarily have different cars. They've got the same base car. And it's not due to preference or prioritising one guy over the other, but it is being rumoured that Lewis Hamilton's strategy, Lewis Hamilton's setups are slightly riskier versus George Russell. Lewis Hamilton, perhaps less tolerant about sticking around in the midfield versus George Russell.

George Russell was a step forward. for him, right? But Lewis Hamilton is a massive step backwards versus where he's been in previous years. So there have been a lot of, there's been a lot of discussion about Lewis Hamilton potentially being a bit riskier with what he can do with the car versus George Russell, which could be a contributing factor, but just kind of proves to what Sam said that there is actually a little bit of truth in that, perhaps not down the preference route, but at least in terms of how they are choosing to go about their business separately. First thing I want to really say is that, And this is perhaps the most important part of what I want to say here, we're only four races in.

And it is a very small sample size at this point in time. And if we're still in this position after the next eight races, then I think we're going to have more serious discussions about this. But given it is only four races, essentially, I don't think it's time to bring out these sweeping generalizations or these sweeping remarks about Lewis Hamilton and his few. future in F1 and Nico Rosberg meme is his career over, the burning in the background. I don't think it's that time yet. But questions do need to be asked about how this situation is unfolding. There is a 21 point gap, which it doesn't sound like a huge amount. But given they're not at the front, they're not at the top couple of positions,

21 points over a midfield teammate. I would say Mercedes are at the top of the midfield. That's quite a large margin, actually. So the questions do need to start coming about. I'll defend Lewis Hamilton to an extent here because I do actually think he's been a little bit unfortunate this year. The one that springs to mind is Australia because he did get unfortunate there at the timing of the safety car.

He more than likely would have beaten George Russell in that race. if not for the bad timing of that. And I think generally everyone's agreed on that as well, in that they do think he was struck by bad luck in that race. Perhaps the one that isn't quite as agreed, but I still do think he had misfortune is actually at Imola. Because I don't think pace-wise, him and George Russell were that different at all. I think if Lewis Hamilton had been able to force himself into the position of George Russell,

he would have done exactly the same job. We have to remember in the sprint race. Remember back to the sprint race, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton qualified very similarly, but they were both stuck in that train of cars unable to make progress. It was really no difference between the two drivers. George Russell qualified a couple of positions higher, which helped him out. But as far as I'm aware, George Russell started the sprint race 11th, and he finished it 11th. So it's not like he was making progress in the sprint race.

What massively aided him was the Grand Prix itself and the start he was able to make. The signs of Ricardo crash helped Russell out, possibly. more than any other driver on the grid. Now, you can say George Russell qualified a few positions higher, so he was giving himself more of an opportunity to do that, and he didn't need, still need to take that opportunity, which he did. But my point is pace-wise, I don't think Russell and Hamilton were that far out. And I actually think that's been the case pretty much all year. The one exception for me is Jeddah, where I think that was the most self-inflicted of all of Hamilton's shortcomings. That might be a bit harsh, but I think that's possibly the one that was most self-inflicted so far this year.

Having said all of that, and I do think he has been unfortunate, but generally speaking, the answer to the overall question of should he take more accountability, the answer for me is yes. He has made errors. He hasn't been able to get on top of a teammate who has just joined the team. And I appreciate that the car is a long way off what he's been used to. It is unfamiliar territory for him to deal with a car that is only capable of being. in the midfield. But you can only deal with what you're given. And I think you just have to make the

most of whatever is underneath you in terms of that car. And Russell has done a better job of that than Hamilton to this point. And this might sound harsh, but honestly, and this is more to do with their attitude outside of the car rather than their results. To me at least, it feels like Hamilton is more of a passenger of what Mercedes have come, rather than the team leader that I think he needs to be. If you listen to a lot of the press that both Russell and Hamilton are doing at the moment, to me at least, it sounds like Russell is the seven-time world champion

who's experienced and has seen it all, and Hamilton is the up-and-comer who isn't happy with this position. Maybe that's harsh, and maybe Hamilton has less tolerance of being in that sort of car, understandable. And I'm not saying he should go out to the press and be happy and delighted about everything because it's not in his competitive spirit whatsoever. But I do think that Hamilton's been pretty snappy in some interviews over the last couple of weeks. There's been some pretty short answers. And I think there is room for improvement there. And where Toto

Wolf says that the car is undrivable over team radio, first of all, I understand completely why he said that for motivational reasons. But quite frankly, it's not true. An undrivable car does not get into fourth place, as George Russell did at the same Grand Prix. That car's not very good versus where it should be, but it's not undrivable. So I understand why Toto Wolf has,

I think he's just flat out lied about that, to be perfectly honest. I understand why he's done it, though. So yeah, I do actually think Hamilton should take a bit more accountability. I don't want to bet against him. I think he will bounce back. But at this point in the season, I think he needs to, and I think he's starting to do this,

understand where the car actually is right now and just focus on getting the absolute best out of it every weekend. I wonder if there's, like you say, there's setups. Yeah, maybe he just needs to not go so risky on them and just deal with where that car is now and go for whatever more sensible setup George is doing because it's working for George at the moment. He's clearly seen that the car isn't where he wants it to be.

He's got writing his radical changes. So he's clearly coming in with a mindset of, we should change this and we should change this. And I know what I'm doing because of the success I've had, which logically makes a lot of sense. He's trying to apply his experience. But radically changing something too much is obviously causing him to have issues in a different manner,

which is then having to try and overcome during a race period where George is going, and again, we're making this up to the point, We don't know the inside of the garage, but where George might be going, tweak the front wing, put a little bit more drag on the car, leave it like that.

I'll make it work like that. You'll notice in the start sequence that George Russell will be right on the back of someone and you'll look back down the grid to where Hamilton is and he'll be backed off massively immediately. There's a gap between the car and him in front. I don't know if he's nervous about midfield drivers. I don't know if he is no longer used to having to battle

for a midfield pack that regularly, that he doesn't know where to place himself. but it's clear that he's lacking a bit of confidence in being assertive with the car when he hasn't got the dominant car underneath him. So I think you're right. Take a step back, be a little safe,

go back to the drawing board. More positive, crack on. I think that might be a lot better. Of course, they're meant to have a lot more outbreaks coming to Miami, so we might see a bit of a different beast. Who knows? Also, this is totally unrelated,

but some actual breaking news whilst we record. Both the race directors have tested positive for COVID. So we're going to be running free, running wild. Get us on. Hello, is that Michael? Yeah. Could you imagine? It's all right.

We'll do it. I'll reckon get us on. Get us on. Quantity, not quality. That's what we're all about, isn't it? Yeah. There's three of us. Eventually, we're going to call a decision correctly.

You'd like to think. Between the three of us, we have the brains of half a person. Perfect. If that's not a slogan for the podcast. I'm not going to comment any further. It's definitely true. We'll move on from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes struggles as of late,

and we'll move on to sprint races. Why are we here again? I really wanted to not talk about sprint races, but then it's like the number one news story today. But it's a positive sping for us, it. For us that don't like sprint races, beg, I'm sure you're going to the detail, there is a positive twist. And to be honest, we're not actually really discussing sprint races here. We're, we're more discussing the FIA's approach to sprint races. So to set the scene for anyone who's not

up to date with what's going on, three sprint races this year, exactly the same as last year. However, it looked like at one point, there was going to be six sprint races this year. Didn't materialise, but plans are still in place to have six in 2023. The teams, and I still can't believe this, the teams are all collectively on board with something. I can't quite believe it's sprint races that has pulled them all together. But all 10 teams are unanimous in that they want six sprint races next year. So what's the holdup? The hold up at the moment is the FIA, who want to evaluate the impact of this proposal on its personnel and trackside operations.

And that's what's holding it up at the moment. So they are saying it's a genuine operational purpose for this holdup. I don't want to sway the jury here by my tone of voice, but Harry, do you believe them? No, absolutely not. I think there's a bit of power play going on here. And to be honest, if it means we have less sprint races, I'm team FIA.

Going to get me FIA flag and drake myself. Come on, Frederick. Frederick. Come on, Freddie. Yeah, no, it is not, this is, that's not the, fine, there might be some actual truth in that, but it's not the main reason here, I don't think. I think there's some political money wrangling going on between F1, and as when I say F1, they mean like Liberty Media and the FIA.

It's very interesting, because I think I read a stat today that 401 accounts for FIA, 70% of FIA's money in. come basically. So it's a brave game to be playing from Frederick. But I appreciate the effort. Let's not have more sprint races. But yeah, it's a very interesting move. I didn't really see that one coming unless it's someone else in another team.

Well, the teams have agreed to it all of it there, haven't they? They're all happy. The teams, and again, I can't quite believe it. The teams are all collectively happy about something. and they still can't get it done. That's amazing. Good old F1. Yeah, that is an odd one.

But yeah, anyway, this is a interesting one. I'm sure they'll come to some sort of agreement. I don't know what there. There must be another angle to this for the FIA, I think. But yeah, it's definitely an interesting one. I don't know how it could be any more tricky to run a sprint race than it is to run FB3. A safety car. That's about it.

Yeah. I'm going to put my sprint race hatred to one side for the moment, because if I was to have that hat on, I would just be like, I would literally have a Frederick Ian Anderson t-shirt on representing the FIA in this fight. No match idea. Exactly. I'm going to put my feelings towards sprint races for one side

and just look at the politics of this. There are often times where I will give a driver or a driver, or a team or an individual, I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this podcast. And I will usually kick off that point by saying something like, I might be being naive here, but I'm a good person believing in good people and I think there is something genuine going on here.

That's how I would usually kick off points where there might be foul play somewhere in there. I'm not going ahead with that naivity today. and I believe this has got nothing to do with what the FIA are actually saying it has something to do with. I am fully cynical on this one. I don't believe the FIA whatsoever. So the FIA get a certain, as Harry's already alluded to, the FIA get a certain amount of money from hosting F1 races. I believe it's to the tune of $40 million per year plus an extra million dollars for every race they have over. for 20 in a season, so it would work out to 44 this year. So it's a healthy package. But as far as

I'm aware, there is no, whether it's a sprint race weekend or whether it's a normal race weekend, that doesn't matter for how much the FIA get paid. And I think if you look at the situation where it is this year, you've got 24 races and only three of them are sprint races. So generally speaking, it's not taking up a huge amount of the calendar. They're probably willing to let it go in terms of extra money in order to fund those sprint races, although Harry does make the point, what exactly are you funding? And I think probably what's happening here is if we do go ahead with six races next year, suddenly you're looking at 25% of the calendar as sprint races. And the FIA are saying, maybe we need to get paid a bit more money for hosting it now because

of how many sprint races are on the grid. Hang on, how can we spin this? Oh, let's say we are caring about the people on the ground because I don't believe it. I don't believe that they are doing this for the genuine reasons that they are saying, that they are looking after the people to make sure that they can do this on an operational basis

down on the ground of the people. I don't believe that that's what they're thinking of here. I believe they are thinking of money and money alone, I'm afraid. And ultimately, you know, there was a statement made by the FIA on this saying we need to analyze, you know, the operational consequences of this. What are you analyzing? The statement didn't have any specifics in it whatsoever.

There was so little detail about, well, actually, what does that involve? How do you go about determining whether a race is set up for a sprint race? or not, because I don't think anything's actually happening here. So I think they want more money. I think the FIA are using this as a bit of a bargaining chip. And ultimately, the teams are going to want, the teams have already wanted extra money to fund additional sprint races. I think they're just playing exactly the same card.

Sam, how do you view this? Do you believe the FIA are as true to their word as they have historically been? Well, you've summed it up perfectly there in terms of the team. The teams, unanimously agree, really. They finally agree on something. What's that moment the budget cups? Budget cup. It's a cup now.

You can win the budget cup. There's also a budget cap that you could get as well. Now, there's a merch idea. Buy your budget cups. They fall apart after one drink. Yeah, there's a reason why they've unanimously come together. The first proper decision after the budget cap comes in. That's because extra sprint races means that they can have bargaining power to increase that budget cap to say,

Our engines are being used more than we allocated for, or we've got more risk of having a crash now, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, we want more money to spend on profits or wind tunnels or something like that, basically. They're going to funnel that money straight into something else. It won't be more engines. It won't be more reliability. It will be into the running system, the wages and whatnot, of the people who are higher up on these teams. It's a great bargaining chip. It makes total six could do so. And if I was a corporate monster, I would definitely have taken that very very.

viewpoint as well to go, hang on a minute. I smell money because I like money as much as the next person. It's good. In terms of the FIA, again, yeah, it's all about going. We're doing more work now. So I think that requires us to have more cash. Cold hard, Kish, please. I have a Kish Lorraine with your sprint race. Thank you very much. But on the non-cinical side, and I'm going to be a little bit naive. You're right. The details were minimal. The details were poor. The details are not going to a lot. But if a weird secondhand outcome of having more sprint races are that they enforce some kind of rule for team members, for people who are down on the ground, setting stuff up every single race, that they have to either get paid for, they get a certain lot of amount of time, or there

is a secondary team member that helps them, if there is something that comes out of this, and I'm being hopeful of Frederick, that you implement something. you know, if that happens, okay, that is genuinely a positive that's come out of more sprint races. It's a shame that we've got to have more sprint races for that to possibly happen. You know, that should generally just be the, hey, if we're going to raise the budget cap for something, it should be for people's well-being, health and safety, and mental capabilities, right? That makes like a good argument. But if it means that we get more people on the ground that can help each other out, that we get a more efficient setup, that people are happier,

people get more time, and then yeah, okay. All right. I can believe that. So if that does happen, well done FIA. Didn't expect to say that at the end of this point, but that is a good thing. But the main point is, $44 million ain't enough for Mr FIA. That's why they want 30 races in a season,

and that's why they want more sprint races with the change in the contract, so they can make more money every single year. It's as simple as that. F1 is about money. They want more of it. And I understand it. It doesn't mean it's right.

It's almost like I'm trying to paraphrase this, quite a lot. But it's almost like the FIA are saying with this statement, hang on a minute, hang on a minute, we just need a bit of time before we act on this. And that is the most anti-FIA thing that I've ever heard. When has that ever stopped them from making a decision? Hang on a minute. Before we go to, before we go to this country, before we do this, we should probably all sit around a table, just have a thing whether it's the right thing to do. Usually they just dive head straight first into things and then deal with the repercussions afterwards. This seems completely opposite to everything they've ever done.

But, you know, here comes the money. Money, money, money, money, money, money. That's actually what they must play in the hall in the FIA offices all the time. I've decided I've become too naive on this podcast now. So I'm just going to be cynical about everything from now on. Sinical Ben. This is a street name. Yep.

Ferrari's illegal. Red Bull's illegal. only valid car on the grid is Williams fully cynical fair out one for the championship it's time for cynical Ben maybe we should introduce that as a regular segment

I'm pretty sure that will take off like dictionary corner on countdown Ben doesn't have the same ring to it cynical Ben God no I'll stick to stats I think that's far better speaking of stats on numbers

move on to the Budget Cup or the Budget Cap, as some of us call it. It's currently set at $140 million. For reference, it was at $145 million last year, so it's gone down $5 million versus where it was in 2021. However, 2022 is a great year already where inflation is high. We're actually an economics podcast as well as a politics podcast now for an update you want that. there's a lot of inflation and the teams collectively seem to want to have that raised, that 140 million raised to account for it. There are questions about, first of all, if it should happen, and second of all, when it should happen if the answer to that is yes. Sam, do you have any views on this one way or the other?

If they're going to make an argument for raising the budget caps, then it makes sense that it's fat, it's water that you can't see folks. The budget cups, you know, if you can't raise it through a literal global inflation where it is affecting every single part of your operational chain, you need to allow for wages to be increased so people have a better living standard.

I buy that argument. I'm okay with that argument. You know, if technically it's the same amount of money, you know how obviously inflation works. Folks are all economic students, understand how money works. We literally get Ben to do our taxes every year because me and Harry don't know how it works.

That makes it sound like it's such an arduous job. We make like four pounds a year. It's not too difficult. The answer for every question is zero. And the bloody tax man still taxes us. True. Yeah. 10P last year.

It's a joke. It's bloody inflation. Anyway, yeah, if a reason that a team can present, it's operational charts from, you know, last year and go, this is what we spent. We spent the full allocation. It was okay. But then this year we go, right, we're accounting for X amount of inflation in our operational country.

Let's take, I don't know, McLaren, because they run in the UK, right? And they say, right, the inflation rates have risen by X amount over this period of time. We can't afford to carry on paying all of our mechanics X amount. We can't afford to pay for the right food, for example, for our staff. If that is the case, if that's genuinely the issue that all. all the teams are facing, then okay, make a logical and sensible decision, which is very rare in Formula One. So we're already at a stretch and apply the same percentage increase that is accredited to the inflation rate of the highest country that's being operating in Formula One at the moment.

And that means that they are effectively running on the same budget they were running on last year, but it's just accounting for inflation rates. If they're literally looking up their budget allocation and going, we were having to come to the end of the year of finding extra places to spend money. New wind tunnel, we've got 30 mil left. If that's the case, again, I've exaggerated. But if that is the case, and most teams are doing that, I don't really know if there needs to be too much of a change. But if it is to accommodate for real staff-related changes, health and safety related things, all that kind of good stuff that is helpful to the people that run the teams, I'm okay with it.

I am okay with that being the case for a budget increase. Yeah, I understand the reasoning for wanting to increase this as well. And ultimately, you know, the budget cap in F1 is not necessarily unique to sport, but there aren't many other sports that have necessarily a budget cap. There are plenty that have salary caps, which I think is some sort of comparison points. So, you know, salary cap is quite prevalent in, particularly in American football and basketball, other American sports is quite popular. And generally speaking, that will increase every couple of years or so

as inflation increases. So I don't necessarily think F1 should operate on a completely different basis to that. And I do think it should be increased where it's appropriate. And actually, the difference between a budget cap and a salary cap is the salary cap is just looking at generally the wages of place. and that's all they're really focused on. The budget capping encompasses so much that actually is much more wider reaching. So there is that strain on raw materials that these teams need.

And generally speaking, you know, the motoring industry at the moment is suffering a lot. It's suffering from a lot of supply issues, a lot of shortages and a lot of price increases. And F1's not blind to that. and it's not separate from that. It is impacted as well. So with that in mind, I do think that an increase is warranted. I don't necessarily think an increase should happen this year

because all of the teams have, and I think it was Freddie Vassar that was speaking about this, but he said, you know, we've all signed up for this. We've all said that these are the rules that were playing, but he also managed to get a nice little dig in about the weight of the cars that Alfa Romeo the only team that have actually abided by. He did that very well. It was slick. He did it very well.

But he's got a point. They've all signed up for this. So I don't think it should be changed mid-season. I don't think it should be changed at the end of the season. And actually, it should change next year for the 2023 budget. You might also argue that we're still quite away from 23. So maybe we should wait a couple more months before making that decision on what the amount should be. I can buy that. But I, regardless of when the time is for when that decision is made, I think it should happen for next year. And I agree with you, Sam.

I would like to think that the increase would go towards the right things, whether it would or not remains to be seen. But I would like to think that's the case. And just to say, really, that I understand that not everything, can go within a budget cap. But for me, what the budget cap is right now is a fantastic first step on the journey of what I would like it to be.

There are still a lot of exclusions from what is included in that. I know the top three employees, driver salaries, they're not included. So I would actually like this to be increased, but I would like it to be increased with a few more things actually coming under the umbrella of what is included in a cost cap.

it is difficult to regulate because some of these teams have formula e-teams where they can potentially knowledge share there it is difficult to police this sort of thing but i think the more that can come under the budget cap the better so i would like to see a few changes in line with that as well as just increasing it for inflation reasons harry what are your views on the potential increase of the budget cap yeah i i agree with all of your points. I think as long as they don't take the Michael, take the Mickey out of it

and start spending that money elsewhere and it's not, and it is used for the things you've both already mentioned and it's increasing salaries for employees, that sort of thing, that are feeling the squeeze under this cost of living crisis we are living through.

I mean, Sam has an electric car, but Ben, filling your car up is like just throw money down the drain at the moment. I hate it. Anyway. Yeah, I totally, I totally agree with the reasoning behind it. I just, I don't want this to be the start of a slippery slope

where they go, you know, in a year's time. Oh yeah, but we need an extra bit of money for this or we need an extra couple of million because of sprint races or something like that. And they start, you know, what you give us the money then? Why can't you give us a money now? and then we end up in a situation where there's not really a cost cap anymore. So that's the thing I'm wary of.

But yeah, if there's legitimate reasons, then fine. And I agree with your point, Ben. I think they shouldn't be a mid-season thing. Let's see where the world is by the end of this year. And then make a decision on the 2023 budget. But yeah, overall, I'm fine with this. Can I quickly ask a slightly random point, which isn't really related to the raise or last.

lowering of the budget cups. But it's more, obviously, we've had conversations around Porsche, Audi, maybe several other teams coming into Formula One in 2025, 2026. Do you think that they're getting a weird advantage because they can spend literally as much as they want on possible Formula One engine development because they're not currently in the sport? Do you think Porsche, for example, if you want to, they could go, we're going to spend 300 million every single year in R&D and they could outpace everyone by the time we're going to

to 2025. It's possible, but I think if you look at Honda, they start. I think it's a lot of money, right, for possibly no real at all. I think it could still go wrong. I mean, it could happen. I don't know, maybe that's something F1 need to look at if Porsche or Aldi come on board. Yeah, you're right. I mean, this is something we discussed.

And Portia Naldi and anyone else who would join, it looks like they will be helped regardless of what they've done prior to entering F1. and it looks like they will get some sort of bonus incentive for being a new team to the tune of about $10 million, I think. So if they were getting that plus possibly a head start outside of F1, it's a good point. I don't honestly know the answer to that. But yeah, I have to say one thing that does make me think

that this request is legitimate is actually who's saying it. So I know McLaren have been vocal about this. and it's not to say that I trust McLaren more than other teams, but it's almost like this wouldn't logically benefit McLaren versus some of the other teams. So if you think of McLaren and who they're chasing at the moment, they're chasing Red Bull and Ferrari, who, if the budget cap was increased,

Ferrari and Red Bull would take advantage of that straight away, right? McLaren, you know, maybe wouldn't to the same degree. So actually, I don't think it would necessarily benefit the likes of McLaren, but they're still pushing for it. But, you know, 140 million, 145 billion, 150 million, you know, it's a tough world out there, right? It's all chunk change for us, I get, we're rolling out over here. Harry, I mean, this is probably the most important thing I'm going to say on the entire podcast, but you're right, Harry, the petrol's mad at the moment, isn't it? Absolutely disgusting.

Tell you what, folks, pray for me. I'm still on, I'm still on Nephi fuel. My car won't take you, 10. Oh, this is getting niche. This is my big of the thing. Have you seen the cost of the leky fuel, though? Like, hello, I may have to charge up via the currents, but have you seen the cost of the bills these days? Electric can get in chief. I'm there on the power grid going, Margaret,

turn your kettle off. There's nothing on the grid for the car, all right? Ridiculous. If you're part of Sam's Electricity Club, please hashtag elect to us at Twitter late breaking at L breaking on that one. If you're part of the E5 gang, let me know by hashtag E5, also at L breaking.

Why? Because we get to the most important issue, Sam. We don't muck about. Who's that guy? Go on. I'd say I feel left out here. So if you are a diesel person like myself, then hashtag big shack.

Big Diesel. So, Jaquille Villeneuve. Jack, oh, we good. Who's that guy who's got the bag, fake Tang that does all the money advice on UK TV? Who's that? Oh, no who that is. Oh, yeah.

What's he called? Bad, Martin Lewis. Martin Lewis, yeah. We are like the Martin Lewis of the podcast world, aren't we, really? Like, again, niche British reference. We've got one in there for this. episode. People across the POM right now, not a clue what we're talking about.

In fairness, I don't know what we're talking about half the time anymore. Speaking of not having a clue what we're talking about, we're going to sing for the next few moments because Sam's going to go all country on us here. It's the return of F1 higher or lower. Is F1 higher? Is Sam faster? Is Harry slow? F1.

I'd love to duet that with Mighty Cyrus. I reckon. Me and Dolly Parton could get on that. You're Billy Ray Cyrus. Yeah. I'm going to take my F on to the higher or lower. You know, we can remix it. Oh, man. We'll have to see when... We'll have to see when we can get a question wrong. We'll have to see when we can get Billy on, because I know we've got a bit of a busy schedule over the next few weeks.

We've got pit bull on next week, obviously, with Miami coming up. And I don't know when we're going to fit him in. We'll try our best. F1 higher or lower is where Sam and Harry go up against each other in a fight for supremacy and personal pride and not much else. So I've got... Of the personal pride a long time ago. That is so true. I've got eight things written down in front of me, all of which have a number, which is the correct answer.

Sam and Harry will take it in turns to have a guess at what that number is. So it could be how many wins does Lewis Hamilton have. one of them will guess how many it is. If they get it spot on, they get two points. Spoiler, that very rarely happens. If they don't get it spot on, I will say so. And the other person then has to choose whether they go higher or lower than that guess. If they're right, they get the point.

If they're wrong, the original guesser gets the point. It's a fairly simple game that's possibly more difficult to describe. You'll see what I mean. Nice. Harry, I'm going to start with you this week. numbers 1 through 8 which one would you like go for 8 please

number 8 oh my good Lord we start with Romie G oh Romie G oh Romy the Phoenix this one's a pretty simple one how many races did Roman Grosjean have in F1 and this is number of entries

rather the number of starts because there is a two difference in that Harry would go that as well because he guesses everything literally correctly so why is there a two difference difference. Romie G, how long has he been around for? A little while? A little while.

A little while. 19, 19, 20. Oh my God, he has been around for a while. I am going to say 250 races. Two-fiddy from Harry Ead. It's not spot on. So Sam, you have to decide whether he has had more than 250 races or fewer. Folks, if you've been around the podcast for a while, this decision is essentially a 50-50. And I am rubbish at those. I'm going to say, Romney G's lower than that for fun. And it's an early lead for Mr. Sam Sage.

Oh, 50-50s, boy is back. 181 is the correct answer. on that one. So Romy G doesn't get you the point there, Harry, and we go over to Sam for the next one. So anything between one and seven, please, Sam. Number one, we've just come from Italy, of course, and this one is about Italy.

So how many F1 drivers since the championship started in 1950 have there been from Italy? Oh, crikey, mate. I don't think that was Italian. No. I mean, it's a pure pun. It is a pure pun, this isn't it? I'm going to go with 27.

27 Italian drivers since the start of F1, yep. Correct. It's not correct, but yes. You're right, it's not correct. Higher or lower than that mark, Harry. I've got no idea. I'm going to go higher. You would be right in saying higher.

It is one all. Whoever the next Italian F1 driver is will be number 100. There have been 99. It's been that many? Good Lord. Yeah. I don't know Italy had that many people. 1950s and 60s, a lot of Italian F1 drones.

Not Italians. One all. Harry, we go back to you after that point. Anything from two to seven. Go for seven, please. Number seven. How many times? Did Michael Schumacher win in the year 2004?

Oh, get this one, it'll get it right. A lot? Can I say a lot? Does that count? That does not count. Yeah, say a lot. Would you say higher or lower? How many wins did Michael Schumacher have in the year 2004? He had 16.

He did not have. have 16 wins in 2004, but did he have more or fewer than that? Sam, higher or lower? I don't suppose I'm allowed to guess a number if I get it right. I get two points, am I? You won't get two points for it, but I'd like you to try it. I'm going to say, well, Harry said 16. Harry said 16. I'm going to say lower and I'll take a punt at 13. You are correct that it is lower.

Yay. And you're also correct that it's 13. Oh, the two point rule. I hate it. You get a point, but you don't get two points. Sorry, 2-1 is the lead for Sam. I was technically right. Anything from 2 to 6.

No pressure, but the person going first hasn't got a point yet, Sam. So good luck. Oh, yeah, that's good. I'll go for 2. Number 2. All right. This one is about Sebastian Vettel. Sebastian Vettel became the youngest poll sitter of all time at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix,

and its record he still holds. How old was he in years and days, please? Oh, have a day off. He was, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know. He was 21 years old, and he had a half. 183 days into the year. It's shockingly not spot on.

Ah, what a shock. Do you want to go older or younger than that, Harry? I'll go younger than that, please. Lower. You are correct. Well done, Harry. Sam, I feel pretty awful because your guess was very good. Oh.

You guessed 21 years, 180. 83 days. The correct answer was 21 years, 72 days. So you really weren't far off. But you still don't get a point. So sorry. No, good. That's life, in it, folks. If you learned something from this podcast, no matter how close you are, life will still rob good things from you. Pretty much.

I'm pretty sure because this happened in that bad one. Yes, unless I've got that wrong. But, um, obviously not. No, you, never wrong, Ben. You're the stat man, Ben. That's definitely not true. I do get things wrong a lot of the time. So we've got four left.

We're at two all. No one wins if they go first. Harry, which one do you want? Three, four, five or six? I'll give a six, please. Number six. Number six is this. In what year did Jim Clark make his F1 debut?

1961. 1961 is not correct. Sam? earlier or later I'm trying to think what the right words were earlier Seth one

later later is better older of a stepping younger I'm going to say that it

you said 61 I'm going to go earlier yeah this is another tough one I'm afraid Harry because you had a very good guess

again but you don't get the point it was one year earlier 1960 oh bloody hell I didn't think it would be that close?

Yeah, that's a pretty tough one. Sam, you... I feel okay now about the better thing. You're back into the lead at 3-2, Sam. You've got three, four or five. Which one would you like? I'll have three. I'll dance with Harry in the middle.

If you didn't like the last one, you're probably not going to love this one either. The good news is you don't have to go very far back in time for this one. You've literally only got to go back to the weekend for this one. Oh, no, that's going to make it even one. We got this, Sam. Max Verstappen won the race, if you remember, and Sergio Perez was second. It was their only second, one, two of the hybrid era.

Can you tell me the difference at the check of flag between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez and second? What? Oh, for crying out loud. One decimal point, so a number point something. You want it to the point? Yeah, only one. He would be a genius. Oh, well, fine.

I'll give you two if you're, I'll give you two if you're closest, if it's the closest full number. Ah, it's not going on it. I don't know, 16.1 seconds. 16.1 seconds. Higher, well, what's the right words for this one then?

Bigger or smaller? Bigger or smaller, yeah, that'll do. I'll go. I think it was bigger than that. F1, bigger. This is going to be a controversial one. Harry, you get the point on this. The correct answer was more than 16.1.

It was 16.527. It's a 16 point... I'm quitting the game. And unfortunately, if you round that up to a full number, that's 17 and not 16. How do you love yourself off every week? Honestly. You find new ways.

Like four off, for Christ's sake, how can you be any closer at a random game? Oh, man. All right. Oh my Lord. We're at three all. It's the deciding two here. Back to you. I'm losing now by got one of a guess.

Back to you, Harry. Four or five? Five, please. Number five. This one is about Magic Alonzo and Felipe Massa. That only makes sense to be a little Twitter today. Yeah, have a look at our Twitter on that one. It might add up. Fernando Alonzo and Felipe Massa, if you remember, they were teammates. How many races were they teammates for?

Oh, God. They were teammates for... No. No. I try the only years they were together for. They were teammates for 76 races. That is not correct. Higher or lower, Sam. Bloody hell. You say 76? 76 races.

I'm trying to think how many years it was. Was it four years? I think. Oh, this is so crucial. I could actually not lose if I get this right. Like, the worst that I'll happen is I'll draw. I... I'm so nervous.

I'm going to say it's... You said 76. I'm going to say higher than 76. Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, Ben. Oh, no. Oh, I've got myself off a gig.

How can just break it to me? Harry, mate. You just need to... You just needed to go one higher. Come on, 77. I'm so, I have no favourites between the two of you. I don't mind who wins. Obviously.

After your close guesses, Sam, if Harry had clinched it with a two-pointer, I think you might have left the podcast forever. Yeah, yeah, I might have had to take a week off. It's a fair point. I'm going to Miami using our budget. Good news, Sam. You cannot lose. but you can also not win.

It's four three. Yeah, that's true. And you are left with number four. And you'll be delighted to know that it's another one about Sebastian Vettel. Oh, come on, Semi-S. Yeah. How many podiums has he had in Formula One?

It's a lot. Yeah, that's not going to kill it. Oh, yeah. It's a... lot of podiums. I'm going to say he's had 92

podiums. 92 podiums is not spot on which means Harry for the draw higher or lower than 92 podiums. 92 is a lot of podiums. I mean it's amazing

that a 50-50, even though I'm not getting the 50-50 choice, it's going to destroy my hopes and dreams again. Every week. higher low than that's two let's go for oh let's go higher

Sam said it was a 50-50 that might well crush him even though he wasn't involved in the decision-making process every week and for once in his life Sam's right because Harry's correct on this one it is for four. It is a draw.

One hundred, 122 podiums as of right. As of right now. So the rule of F1 higher or lower is never go first. Yeah. If we lose every single time that one of us won't first. Yes.

That means we got all the 50-50s right. Yes. But none of the guess is right. Also yes. Oh, that's. That's classic in it. That is classic. I love some of those guesses were fantastic.

Harry, you managed to get a year out on Jim Clark's debut, one out on Alonzo and Massa's collective races together. Sam was like the flash of a car out between getting the Perez and Vastafin question, right? And you were like a couple of months away from getting the Vettel one, right? Mad. Some good guesses in that. closest higher or lower we've ever had. It does end in a draw, but we will allow Sam to sing himself out regardless.

Come on, Dolly. It's F1 higher, is F1 lower, is Sam faster, is Harry slower, F1 higher, F1. If you haven't seen the Barnyard dance from Gavin and Stacey, folks, I would like someone to... That's what that was. Because someone superimposed, that's got the right word, dub, my song over the top of them doing the Barangyard dance and Gavin and Stacey, please. Harry, maybe that's a job for you, but someone do it. Anyway. Allens in the stream.

I've lost control, folks. I always think that F1, higher or lower theme is, is. pretty good and then the last F1 comes in and that just makes it elite tier, you know, that it's the real one. It's the F1 followed by the strum of the guitar. Yeah. F1.

Been a while since that one's featured. Harry, you're like my Calvin Harris and I'm like your front man because if you don't know, Harry randomly picks a song just to put behind by a cappella singing at whim. But it seems to work every time.

was it every time it didn't have one it's a classic I think that's where we'll leave you folks so Sam if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here for this one well I'm really sad to say that we won't be here at the weekend because the Formula One

is a sign it's not Formula One this weekend so it's going to be a whole seven days listen to Craig Davy if you like until we are back but when we do come back it will be for the Miami preview Miami the place where the sunset go or whatever Will Smith decided to say Mr Worldwide will not be here of course it's going to be a wild ride

TVC on Mr Worldwide pit bull yeah look forward to it come and join in you know one weeks away you know it's not too long seven days and we'll be back with you if you have enjoyed it leave a review you know cheeky five stars that we appreciate that it means a lot to us helps us grow helps us got the charts helps us become a bit professional which we're definitely not at the moment there are thousands of of you. So if you all do it, by the way, we will look really good. We also have, of course, Discord. Harry will leave the link in the description. It does work. Many of you are joining over 500 of you, which is crazy. Twitter, at all breaking,

Instagram, the late breaking podcast. TikTok, that's right. We're still going. The late breaking podcast. There's Patreon if you do have any money with this, all this inflation that's going on that you'd like to, you know, support us with. And we massively appreciate those who already do. And there's merchandise available. If you see anything on there that you think, oh, you know, I've got a design in mind.

You can submit a design and if enough people like it will make it as well, I'll give it a little go for you. Folks, it's been a wild ride. You know, how old is Sebastian better? Well, you know, you tell me. Sincal Ben, I suppose,

we'll probably have to see us out. There's a lot of characters that's come out of this podcast. It's really been bizarre. Until next week, I've been Samuel safe. I've been Ben Hocking. I've been Vanessa,

Shenessa Jenkins. I don't remember. Keep breaking late. My life is a 50-50 of misery. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.