The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Is Lance Stroll HOLDING BACK Aston Martin?

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

This non-racing week, Ben & Harry discuss Lance Stroll's early season troubles and whether he is good enough to compete at the top. They also cover Guenther Steiner's scathing steward criticism, the appointment of James Key as TD at Alfa Romeo, Will Power's assertion that IndyCar is the toughest field in the world, and Haas' tyre deg struggles in Spain. They finish with a particularly disorganised game of F1: Real or No Real (sorry yes, it's back).. >> If you have a spare 5 mins, we'd greatly appreciate your thoughts/feedback so we can ensure our content is tailored to what you enjoy. You can find the SURVEY to complete here: https://rb.gy/uym99 ___________________________________________________ SUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebraking JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAm JOIN our F1 Fantasy League: https://fantasy.formula1.com/en/leagues/join/C3CCEW8P704 TWEET us @LBraking BUY our merch: https://late-braking-f1-podcast.creator-spring.com/ EMAIL us at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Everyone, welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead and me, Ben Hocking. We've got a non-race episode today. Unfortunately, it's still only two of us. Good news for you folks that are missing Sam, though. He's going to be back one episode sooner than we expect.

So on our next episode, you get your fix of Sam again. But at least until then, you're going to have to deal with the two of us once more. Harry, I'm worried. What are we going to do with the question of the week jingle? Oh, I didn't even think of that. I mean, what did you do? I wasn't on the last midweek episode. Did you do a question?

I don't do one. Well, we did a question of the week. Oh, no, I listened to it. You remixed it up. But Sam's still kind of laid out and I joined in. That's a very good point I don't know Is it sacrilege to

To go and do it How am I don't know I'll get over it Also I'd like to like Quash any rumours Because Sam is back on The next episode Which is Sunday

But I'm not I'd like to say that Me and Sam are still on speaking terms By the way this says We haven't fallen out This is not a two-man rotation now We promise Canadian preview

In a week's time It will be the three of us And I think For the rest of the month we're pretty much always all three of us from then on out. But you're right. Harry and Sam, there's massive tension backstage here at LB.

Yeah, I mean, there is that one when being in Salon, both at Glastow. But anyway, yeah, we'll work that out, I'm sure.

Anyway, what have we got coming up on today's episode? We're going to be discussing, we're going to go into the realm of IndyCar for a little bit because some comments from Willpower has caught our eyes. So we're going to discuss that. James Key has joined, Alfa Romeo. First of all, congratulations. Not on getting the job, but for announcing it on a

Wednesday. Really appreciate that. Gunter Steiner received a reprimand from the F-1 stewards at the weekend. We'll be discussing his comments that led to that. But we're going to start our discussion today with Lanchstrol. So coming out of the Spanish Grand Prix, looking at the Constructors' Championship, of course, Red Bull are about 3,000 points ahead of everyone else. But if we're looking at the battle for P2. We've got Mercedes on 152, Aster Martin on 134, and then Ferrari on a nice even 100 points.

But if you're looking at the driver's championship at the moment, Fernando Alonzo sits with 99 points in P3, having had five podiums so far this year. Lance Stroll, no podiums to his name. He's down in eighth place on 35 points. Now, we've heard Alonzo's comments that he thinks the gap between himself and his teammate is because of luck. Would you agree with that, Harry, or do you think there's more to it than that?

A part of it, potentially, I agree with Fernando. If you look at Saudi, I think Lance probably could have been, it could have been P4 there, but his engine blew up or he broke down, not his fault, unlucky. Then what was the next race after Saudi? Oh, he was P4 then, wasn't it, in Australia? behind Fernando. And then I'd also say there's an element of luck in the fact that his floor got damaged in Miami qualifying,

which meant he, sorry, Monaco, which one was that? That was that Miami was that. Miami quality, yeah, so he got caught out and then qualified lower down. Having said that, Monica was Lance, that's all him. That was, I don't think that was luck. But I think there's some truth, truth in that. So Lance would probably be closer if it wasn't for a couple of pieces of bad luck that I mentioned.

But having said that there are still instances as well where he's made his own luck. And yeah, Monaco being the worst of them. I think he didn't recover particularly well in Miami given where Alonzo was in that race. So it's a mixture. I don't think it's purely down to bad luck. but I can see why Fernando, well, I know why Fernando said it because he's your contract negotiations and all that. But I can see logically why Fernando has said this as well, because I think there is some partial truth in that. But I think it would be unfair to say that it's all been down to bad luck for Lance that he's so far behind because I think there are still errors that he's made, again, Monaco, looking at you, that he's made that, that I've meant that he's,

He's that far behind him. I was doing a little bit of research on this topic, and I couldn't believe that... Do you remember Bahrain and how there were serious question marks about whether Lance Stroll was even going to race that? That was this seat? That was like four years ago, was it? I was...

When I was thinking about that then, and I was thinking about Bahrain, I was like, oh yeah, he did well then. He had no wrists. And then I was like, but that was eight... That was years ago. It was last year, wasn't it? Exactly. I mean, we're only on like race seven. That happened six races ago.

Oh, man. Long season. Yeah, really. That that four week break that we had in in April has just completely messed me up to the point where Bahrain and Saudi Arabia happened in 2018. Yeah, I think you're probably, you're mostly right here in terms of it is some luck, but also some skill as well. to put it mildly. I think with, certainly with Fernando Alonzo and Aston Martin and the whole dynamic at the team, I don't think they need Landstrol to be this number one prime driver. Alonzo can do that. That's okay.

They just need Stroll to be good enough to the point where he can be a reliable number two in the same way that Ferrari and Mercedes have got it worked out at the moment, where you know that there is that consistency amongst both of their drivers, and the reliability that if one of their drivers doesn't perform on a certain weekend, which happens to all Formula One drivers, is the other one going to be there to back it up? And at the moment, at least in terms of points, that's not happening at Aster Martin.

If you look at Fernando Alonzo, Fernando Alonzo is on 99 points. He is one point away from outscoring Ferrari by himself. Ferrari have scored one more point than Alonzo this year. He's not enjoying that at all, is he? Not at all. but it does also serve a point that if you've got two Fernando Alonzo's in your team, you're very close to 200 points rather than 134 that they're actually on. You know, Lanchthroles is at the moment closer to the Alpine drivers,

standings-wise, than he is even the Merck and Ferrari drivers, let alone Fernando Alonzo in third place. I think you're right to highlight Saudi Arabia. So I think Saudi Arabia was bad luck in that he was, he was the first front runner to Pitt. and he retired straight after he came into the pits. There's no, who knows, there's a lot of hypotheticals as to where he might have finished,

but I certainly think a top four finish there was doable. And with Alonzo's penalty, if that had actually come into effect a little bit more than it actually did, maybe Landstrol finds a way onto the podium. I don't know. But yeah, he was certainly unlucky in Saudi Arabia. The problem is if I'm looking at the other races for the most part, there isn't too much in the way of luck.

I think it is more he's just been outpaced over the weekend. So, Bahrain, you could argue, mitigating circumstances there was. He had 100% fitness, probably not. But Fernando Alonso wins that by 15 seconds or so. Australia, you know, he could say he was unlucky not to get a podium. The truth is that he had the chance for a podium. And he locked up when he had the chance for P3. Oh, yeah.

And yeah, took a trip across the gravel. he was saved by the red flag and got him back to P6, which ultimately with signs and Gassley running into issues themselves, got him the P4. So I think he was more lucky than unlucky in that situation. And then if we're looking at the most recent ones, Azerbaijan didn't really have the pace to compete with Alonzo there. Miami, you've already mentioned, he was knocked out in Q1, whereas Fernando Alonzo was on the front row of the grid.

Monaco similarly, knocked out in Q2. Fernando Alonzo is on the front row of the grid. Spain, of course, is a bit more encouraging in that he outqualified Fernando Alonzo for the first time. But still, you would have to question whether he did have the outright pace to beat Fernando Alonzo, because if Alonzo wanted that spot, he probably would have taken it. Let's be honest there. Don't panic, Lance. Don't panic, Lance.

I'm not going to try and overtake you. He's got his home race coming up next. What do you think he needs to deliver in order to assert his. himself in this championship. Win, I think. Good, in the race. Now, I think it needs to, for me, Spain was quite an encouraging weekend for Lance in relative,

in terms of his relative pace to Alonzo. I know he was ahead of him in quality. And then I know Alonzo had a damaged floor, but in quality, but Lance was, was ahead of him by a few spots. And then obviously, you maintain that during the race. Now, I know, as you mentioned, that Alonzo was coming to get in by the end

and probably would have done. But having said that, he wouldn't have got that far in the distance, would he, to be fair? Exactly. And I think that was only because he was on a better strategy than Lance was.

So I think more of that for Lance this weekend would be good. And if the car is better, sorry, this weekend, it's not this weekend. Next weekend. I know what you meant. Next race. Next race.

If the car is better again, sort of back to the level, it was pre-Prey Spain, which we, I people kind of suspect it will be, then Lance has got to be looking at a podium. That's kind of the monkey on his back of the moment because his teammates coming in and getting all these podiums and, you know, for most of the races,

the cars have the pace to be on the podium. Admittedly, there's only three spots and a lot of the time they're filled up by two Red Bulls, so there's only one to fight for. And in a fight for third place, so you're going to put your bets on, Fernando or Lance. oh, probably going to be Fernando. So I get that that's difficult,

but I feel like that. He needs that for his own season. I feel like it's way. Did you see the interview with him on Sky Sports when they asked him about a podium? He got very... I don't think I did. Oh, it was just, I think Sam re-tweeted it.

That's what Howard saw it. But he was, he made a joke about not getting excited about a podium. It's funny, go and watch it. But my point big, it does seem like that's something that's weighing on his mind slightly. And then you can see why Fernand has come in

and had all this success. And I was going to say, not that it's Lance's team, but it's Lance's not far off. So, yeah, it's going to be tough for him. So look, it's got to do the same as he did in Spain. And, you know, if that car is competitive, then he's got to be aiming for a podium at least.

Yeah, and obviously in front of home support, that would be ideal for him. I think actually the most encouraging thing from my side for Landstrol season so far has actually been qualifying. I thought he was going to be outclassed in qualifying more than he has been so far. Appreciate that Miami and Monaco were pretty disastrous in that in both races, Alonzo had a front row and in both races, Landstrol didn't get through to Q3. If you exclude those and look at the other five results, Lance Stroll has made Q3 in all five of them.

And I don't think Bahrain might have been the worst of the five, again, potentially mitigating circumstances there with him not having had testing a week before. Bahrain was the worst at half a second difference between Alonzo and Stroll. Outside of that, all the other ones have been two temps, three tents. It hasn't been, there haven't been any one second gaps. There haven't been any seven and a half tenth gaps. Land Strong has historically been bad at qualifying.

Like, he was outqualified by Sergei Sirotkin at Williams. He's never been a great qualifier. And I thought the gap would be bigger, actually, between him and Alonzo. And it hasn't to this point. So it's probably the most encouraging thing I've seen from him so far this year. Well, Lance. Not so well done, though. I have to put a negative in there as well.

It's, if you look at the percentage of points between the top four teams, it's actually quite symmetrical with the other three. So Red Bull, Max Verstappen has scored 59% of Red Bull's points this year. Mercedes, Louis Hamilton has scored 57%, and Carlos Seins has scored 58% for Ferrari. So you've got a nice little line there of 59, 58, 57. Oh no. Yeah, Alonzo's got 74% of Aston Martin's points.

So at some point, at the moment, at the moment, it's difficult to argue that if Lance Strong, had performed to the level of Carlos Sondor or Charles, Astor Martin would be in second in the championship. It's very difficult

to argue against that. So even if we don't need Lance Stroll to be Fernando Alonzo-esque, do need him to be better than what he's producing at the moment. Or no, Lance. It's all right.

We're right. It'll be fine. That's our conclusion from this segment. You'll be fine. Lance. He'll be free. We'll take our first quick break as I drop my pen.

We're going to be talking about Gunter Steiner's comments right after this. I think you're going to go away with that when noticed. I'm just going to pick up my pen, folks. Oh, man, it's all going off. Do you want it's even crazier, right? Listen to folks, this is mad. Oh, no. Here are all of my notes for the first topic here.

it's only the end of the notebook. No! I've only got a second notebook. No way. God. Oh, Mike. What a day we're having here. It's a two notebook episode.

Let's like a different color notebook in terms of the color as well, Ben. Am I right? Yeah. Yeah, it's all black on this one. All black. Lovely. Lovely. Nice and clean.

Indeed. This is terrible. Move on. This is great. Let's move on. Gunter Steiner. So he made some comments at the Spanish Grand Prix press conference. So before the Grand Prix took place,

he had some unsavory words about the stewarding from Monaco. So he was talking about Nico Holcomburg getting a time penalty for an opening lap incident with Logan Sargent. And he had this to say, every professional sport has got professionals being referees. F1 is one of the biggest sports in the world. and we still have laymen deciding on the fate of people who invest millions in their careers. And it's always a discussion because there's no consistency.

I think we need to step it up. I think it's now time. I think we've been discussing this for years and years and we will always go back to this. Shockingly, they summoned him to speak to, ironically, the stewards, about potentially insulting language. I can't remember exactly what they said. But fortunately, Fulgen Steiner, he received only a reprimand. What did you think?

Was that the right call? What did you think of his comments? This is for Sam. Oh, stewards. Did Guntz Steiner hurt your feelings? Yeah, come on. I don't know what sort of look they thought that was going to give them by calling Guntar to the stewards for what he. said. And to be honest,

I don't think he's, I mean, maybe call them layman was a bit, a bit harsh. I think that's what they had the issue with is the use of that word. But it's general point, I think is valid. As we've said on this podcast many times in terms of the inconsistencies when it comes to stewarding. I mean, look at the, look at the weekend we just had with some of the some of the calls there.

So, yeah, yes. He made it in a very good to Steiner way, which I guess was not the most appropriate way to do it. But I think in general, I agree. I think there's, he's got a very valid point. I didn't listen to this podcast, so don't give me a yellow card, but I saw a reel of it.

But it's the, that's a grey area. Yeah. So the timeout. But it was the Eddie Jordan. and David Kotaubon. Oh, that's fine. No, that one's fine, yeah.

But it was, and EJ is talking about the stewarding. It was about what he, it was about F1, but the main thing you went for was the stewarding, that there's not enough, not enough driver representation, or at least people in there who've actually raced a car. I don't know if this is fair to say as well, raced recently.

I think that also fair, yeah, not, not from... I mean no disrespect whatsoever to the immortal Warwick Warwick. I've had to say Derek Warwick, yeah. But, yeah, I mean, exactly. So, and I think he's, I mean, EJ's obviously got valid points, whatever he says. Valid or not, he'll say, what he thinks? Have you, sorry, this is off tangent now. Have you seen the video of him because they've got Bertrand Gashow on there?

No, I haven't seen that. Oh, my God, go and watch it. Because he talks him about prison. Yes, like, of course he does. And he, and he was so annoyed. and in the video, he says, Bertrand Gasso says that,

that EJ actually wanted him to go to jail because there was a clause in his contract, which meant that he got, he didn't have to pay money. So E.J. hired him, his own lawyer for Bertram Gashe. That's why he got up in jail.

Oh, man, that's great. Anyway, I'm not encouraging people to listen to other F-1 podcast, but is Eddie Jordan. Anyway. Oh. to the point in hand, I think he has a point. I think there's not enough representation from recent,

recent motor racing drivers in that, in that stewarding room. And I know they're rotating. You can't ask them to, it's going to be hard to find that, a load more to do every race. But I think if you, at least you had a rotation of them,

maybe it might work. I know that's what we have, but it's one, it's one driver per race. And you, it shows. It shows in the, in the inconsistencies we have. So good.

maybe don't call people layman, but you've got a valid point. Honestly, you know how we do moment of the race after a Grand Prix? And there were a lot of good contenders for the Spanish Grand Prix, and including Russell's sweat, of course, that was number one by quite a long way.

There was one that I wanted to mention, but didn't, because it wasn't really about the Grand Prix itself. It was actually the stewards. I wanted to give the stewards moment of the weekend because I don't think I laughed more than when they said that Gunther Steiner said in a statement that his comments, if he wanted to be insulting, he would have used different words.

And then the stewards and the statements, but the stewards do not dispute this. They've seen drive to survive. They know he could have gone worse. Yeah. You're not wrong there, son. We're not going to disagree. So, yeah, don't dispute that. You probably would have done.

It's true to an extent. Like, if he wanted to, he probably would have used a lot more worse terms than layman. But at least in the dictionary definition of the word, he's not wrong. They kind of are layman in that they're not full-time stewards. They're not, that's not their specialty. It's what they do on the, on the side of other things.

So to call them layman is kind of accurate, I'm afraid. And to your point, I agree with pretty much everything that he said. It does seem as if they just had the issue with the use of the word layman, which is in a very weird way, a good thing in if they are just worried about the language used, rather than just speaking out about the FIA, I think that's better. I like the fact that team principals and drivers have the freedom to speak their own views.

And if it doesn't align with the FIA in Formula One, then so be it. So I'm kind of glad that they only wanted to trip him up based on a word rather than the actual sentiment that he was going for. But yeah, I can't disagree with what he says. I've got no problems with him. even though I actually think the incident itself, the Nika Holkenberg one,

I think the stewards actually got that right. I do think it was a fair penalty, but the issue is not when they get it right and wrong. The issue is that they'll get it right one week and then you'll get the same incident at the following race and they won't penalise it in the same way. It's always been the consistency that's the issue, not necessarily what's right and wrong.

I think most fans won't mind too much as to where they draw the line, just that they go ahead and bloody draw it. somewhere we saw the Yuki Sanoda penalty this weekend. I feel like you see that 10 times a race sometimes and it goes unpenalized. A lot of people questioning the lap one incident between, I can't really call it an incident, but the lap one turn one between Carlos Seinfant and Max Verstappen. Was that fundamentally any different than what we saw between Yuki Senada and Joe Guan Yu?

Possibly not. So yeah, I absolutely think stewards were right about. the incident, but Gunter Steiner is right about his comments here. And I would like to see full-time stewards come on board. Whether you, as you say, Harry, there is some sort of rotational system. But yeah, the problem is you are always, the more people you add to the process, the more inconsistency can leak into the process. It's similar to what we've had in terms of the F1 race director. Obviously, we had Michael Massey in post, and whilst I don't think he was the right person for the job, at least he was one person for the job. And soon after that, it becomes a two-person job and you've got differences weekend to weekend.

You've got quite strict policing one race. You've got much more lenient than next. And it doesn't quite work. So I do think they need some sort of core stewarding team at the very least. goes around the world. Gunter's right. It is one of the biggest sports in the world and it should be treated

as one of the biggest sports in the world in terms of drivers, in terms of teams, and in terms of stewarding as well. It should be no exception at all. But honestly, the stewards do not dispute this. Haven't laughed more in quite a while.

Cheers, stewards. Good. Good work as ever. Before we move on into our next outbreak, do want to bring. bring up here, Beef's going to be proud. I've remembered.

Oh, yeah. I want cheering. Oh, yeah, you shouldn't be cheering, mate. But about time we did an F1 fantasy update. So far, we're seven races into the season. And I've only forgot to do it once. I feel like that's a good success, right? Yeah, six out of seven.

That I'll do. So, how are we looking? I actually went into the top 10 before Spain. And then Spain happened. So I'm now outside the top. top 10 again. I'm back to P11. Unfortunately, Nika Holkenberg's tires couldn't last and Pierre Gazley wasn't as high as he could have been. And Perez couldn't beat the Mercedes. If any of those happen, maybe I'm still in the top 10. So if you think I've got a vendetta against any drivers,

that's probably why. Sam is in the top 300, literally just. He's 299th, which is better than you, I'm afraid. 349th. You were ahead of Sam two races ago. I admit, I used my whatever it's called. Which one? There's loads of them.

One of the chips. And then I haven't touched, I haven't logged in since then, if I'm being honest. Do you even know who your team is? The onion spliters. I mean, actually the people in the team. Oh, I know that Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonzo

are in there because they're pretty safe bets. Yeah, sure. But the rest of them, I can't remember. Maybe Holkenberg. That could be why. You've probably got a McLaren in there. I might have a flirt. That seems like something you'd do.

I think I've got signs maybe. Probably Norris. I don't know. Who knows? Anyway, do you want to hear some better news? I do, because I know what it is. You're still beating beef. Wee.

Beef is P425 at the moment, so there's about, yeah. She's closing in. Yeah, she did mention that it is getting closer. so you might want to, you know, buck your ideas up and get away from her. I can't be right about broad predictions and good at F-1 Fantasy only one weekend. You're expecting too much of me, mate. That is a good point. You've sucked at the two fantasy weekends where you've actually got bold predictions right.

Oh, no. So if I do it in fantasy, I'll do badly in bold predictions. I think you take the 50% success rate. I think you just say I'll do well in one of them. I think I'll take it and run. Two on the bounce. I'll never letting that go. I'll tell you what.

Bold predictions for the Canadian Grand Prix next week is going to be fun. Sam is going to throw up the easiest bold prediction that he possibly can. We're going to have to fight it. I'm going to shoot him down because he wouldn't let me have Alonzo not on the podium this year. Yeah, that's going to come back to hurt him,

I'm afraid. I'm sorry, now you look at that. That's pretty bold. He's only had two races where he's not been on the podium. Fair. Anyway, I'm not bitter. No, not to It doesn't even need to be better

Just to give a shout out To those that are actually successful in fantasy So there was no change at the top So Red Bull gives you wins Still first place overall In our championships So well done holding down that spot once more But the winner for Spain

Darf Alonzo Oh, great name A great name Which, sorry, this very off topic Which Daff would he be? Alonzo Yeah. Are you envisioning a Darth Vader-esque Alonzo or a Darth Maul-esque? I don't know. Oh, that's a good quote. Which Dark Lord is it? We've lost so many listeners now.

I mean, it's... Ah, tricky. I'll probably go Vader. Yeah. Safe bet. Safe, safe bet. He's had a lot of going on in his life. it's not enough Star Wars F1 crossover Not actually I'm surprised because Sam works for a A game that's about the Star Wars

So I don't know That's not happened more Let's make that a thing Going forward Let's We'll have a think about that In our next ad break And on the other side

We'll be discussing James Key As he has been appointed By Alpha Romeo Okay First of Harry Can you just Prepare the applause

Or something along those lines means. Yes. Oh, God, hang on. Something positive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm on that. Brilliant.

James Key has been hired as technical director at Alfa Mayo. And not only that, as mentioned in the introduction, he announced it on Wednesday morning. Good on James Key. And Alfredo. Yes. Congratulations to him and the team. We love anyone. who gives out news on a Wednesday.

Honestly, Lewis Hamilton, if you announce your contract Thursday morning, not in our good books. We won't recognize it. We go on the list with Andretti. Yeah. And someone else, I can't remember. Yeah.

But we will, Discord's popping. Sorry, just quick Discord a second. Sorry, Ron. Yeah. If the contract does come in tomorrow that is rumored that it might be the case, Lewis Hamilton,

we are not acknowledging that you've recently. time for Mercedes. No, gosh. Just not happening. Okay, James Key, someone who does deserve our attention for now. He was previously of McLaren until he left in March of this year.

So he was at the team from 2019 onwards. So he oversaw as they went to fourth place in 2019, third place in 2020, fourth again in 2021. But then after a poor start to the new era of F1, he was let go by the team and not included in their reshuffle plans, as we've spoken about a few times on the podcast. But he's now rejoined, not only rejoined Salba,

because he did start there about 10 years ago, just over 10 years ago, but he's also rejoined Andrea Seidel, because of course they worked together at McLaren. What are your thoughts on this decision? Because it wasn't a great end to the McLaren-key relationship. It's a very interesting one, isn't it? Because there's clearly, James Key and Andrea Seidel,

they're all there they're buds they uh he's it wasn't an end to their relationship was it obviously sidle left before the start of the this year so he clearly thinks james he being andrea sidle sorry andrea sidle thinks that james key is it's the key i was wondering how like are you seriously looking okay um yeah shush christ one that funny um um um um um Yeah, so he obviously thinks that he's the man for the job. But it's an interesting one because obviously McLaren didn't. And if you look at the, as you say,

the start of the new era of Formula One, there are two cars that have been produced so far, which James Key has been key for, a key in creating, I've been pretty bad. So, you know, something almost doesn't add up, either, and, you know, there was something else that's the reason,

or Andreas Seidel is blind. I don't know, but clearly Andreas Seidel thinks he's the man. And this is, you know, part one of Andreas's Seidel of Get Aldi Good for 2026. Gag. Gag. Gag. Gag plan. So he's starting to put those pieces in place in place.

And obviously piece number one for him is James Key. So we'll see how it works out. I'm not saying that he's not the right man. Maybe he's a very clever man, I'm sure of it. And he had some success in McLaren. So it wasn't all bad. But yeah, interesting one. But it does seem rather, maybe that was part of the reason McLaren let him go.

Maybe they knew that cider was going to pinch him anyway. And it was just like a, well, you might as well go then. A bit of enforced gardening leave. So, um, I being stupid. Wasn't James Key linked with Al-Fatari

at some point? Am I going mad? Yes. Yeah. Before they were Al-Fatari, but yes. He was there for a long time.

He was there at, sorry, yeah, I think he was there for a number of years, wouldn't he? I'm going back. I just thought maybe he was that

before he was linked to go back there. Go back there, yeah, I don't know. Okay. Anyway, um,

yeah, interesting one. And, you know, this is a decision that we won't see the, the,

the fruits of or the results. of for another four years. So they've got a long time to start working at this. It's going to be interesting. Yeah, in the statement, they referred to this as a statement of intent. So we are on fire tonight, guys. This is good. Yeah, I think it is, as you say, the first step in this master plan that Andreas Seidel has

as the CEO of Audi, basically. This is going to be Alpha Romeo becomes Alba becomes Audi. So, yeah, they're making decisions for multiple years in the future here. They're not looking for success in 2023 or 2024. I'm sure they wouldn't turn it down. But they're making these decisions for success far further down the line. So I think overall, to your point, it is almost a question of not do you trust James Key is a question whether you trust Andreas Seidel or not. Do you trust his judgment in James

Key? Because for the most part, Andrea Seidel, for me at least, gets things right a lot more than he gets things wrong. So naturally, I want to believe him and say his judgment of James Key being a very good technical director makes sense. And I want to believe that it is the case. There are question marks that came out of the back of that McLaren leave. But as you say, they, they had success at McLaren whilst James Key was there as well. You know, they had third place finishes and fourth place finishes, which was significantly better than what they had during the McLaren Honda days. So, and another point as well that a few people have raised is that maybe it's difficult to judge James Key's end of McLaren run because the team is still very much transitioning in that they don't

have the wind tunnel yet. They don't have this simulator that's going to come on board. Is it, can you pin too much blame on him before the fact, before all of this infrastructure came on board? We know that Audi is pretty much there and they're going to keep investing and he's going to have a lot to play with. Did McLaren give him enough to go on? I think that's a legitimate question. I kind of, I've just written down there, someone's going to look foolish. Someone is to look foolish because either this is going to work like Audi as a whole is going to work and Andreas Seidel and James Key are going to sit at the top of this F1 empire and Zach Brown is going to look really really silly because he had both of them and if he has to watch as those two rule the

roost and F1 that ain't a good look he's he can spin anything I don't think he can spin that he could go he would try he would definitely try It just hide it in Indycar for the year not coming back It's hard Yeah Oh pause

Zach Brown He just needs a result Don't he Anything Anything will do Yeah somehow Indy car last weekend Went about as bad

as the F1 did for him But Did he go Oh To be fair Yeah But Rosas Goet

Did that by Running his teammate Into the wall Not before They crashed into each other Yes True Yeah

I just think Someone's gonna look foolish because even that happens, or this Audi project completely fails, and Seidel kind of looks silly in that he's witnessed James Key have poor runs at two consecutive teams under his helm, and it will kind of look like you didn't learn the first time, and now you've paid the price a second time. So either way, someone's going to look bad.

I just don't know which way it's going to go yet. Oh, dear. There is a question, I think, with James Key, because he did spend time at Salba when Salba, Salba, a Salber had a good year when he was there. So I think Salva, I forget which year, what year was it that they finished like fifth in the constructors?

Which at that time was pretty good. Are we doing recently? Like the teens? I'm talking like early like 2012. They've been... Oh, 2020. Yeah, when, well, Perez almost won in Malaysia that year, didn't he? Maybe they were a P5 that year.

Yeah. I think Kope Asher yet. but they got a couple, they got a few podiums at year, yeah. Yeah, so it might be that year. But, you know, that was under his helm. And then at Toro Ross, he was pretty well respected when he was there. And then at McLaren, obviously, the first half of the run went well as well.

So, yeah, it'd be interesting to see how he he copes. He's never really been at the tippy top of F1 before, has he, for lack of a better phrase, I guess. So I'm interested, if, you know, if Audi give him and Cidl, the resources to actually get there to competing for wins, it will be new territory for him. Well, tune back in in four years' time, folks, and let's see who was right.

Someone's going to save this episode. We're not saying either way, we're just saying one of them's going to be right. Yeah. We're not conclusion. Conclusion? Concluding. Yeah, we need Sam back.

I'm starting to sit on the fence too much with you. I mean, you're allowed to sit on the fence about something that's not going to happen for four years. is. That's got to be allowed. That's allowed. Okay. Fair enough.

Should move on because this next segment could be interesting. We are 99% Formula One on this podcast. But occasionally we like to throw in a little sprinkle of other motorsport because there was something that the court RI, which is relevant to Formula One. And it was comments by Willpower. If you're unaware of IndyCar, Willpower is a driver in the series. he has been there for quite a while, isn't he's won two championships. He's won about 40 races, including an Indy 500. So a very experienced, very successful driver in IndyCar.

And he had some comments at the weekend. The world's angriest Australian as well. Sorry, New Zealand? Australian. Oh, God. He's Australian. I think. Just in the world's angriest man.

I'm 89% sure. Sorry, correct. He had this to say at the weekend. regarding Formula One versus IndyCar. He said, it's so tough, we've got an amazing field, the toughest field in the world, and people need to know it, especially compared to Formula One. Formula One's a joke as far as competition, but not as far as drivers. They have amazing drivers, and I feel sorry for them that they don't get to experience

the satisfaction we do with our racing, because that is the top level of open-wheel motorsport. I think Formula One would be so much better if they had a formula like Indy car. I love the technology and the manufacturer side of it. I think that's awesome. But from a spectator watching, how cool would it be if everyone had a red bull? This is sure to divide a lot of people,

to say the least, your thoughts on his comments. I classic, I can see both sides of the argument here. But for me, I think he's right. I think he, in terms of outright competition, in that you don't know who's going to win the race in IndyCar every time you start watching it. He's correct. Having said that, there are some mitigating factors

in who's going to win IndyCar, like, are you just going to survive? Fair. I mean, I don't mean, like, be injured, but I just mean just not crash. Yeah, crash out the race. I mean, the last race they had, if you didn't watch, was in Detroit on a new track.

I'm doing a Verticom was there because it was just a street track, it was like the bumpiest narrowest track you've ever seen. And people crashed out, Rema Grosjean crashed out, because his suspension just failed, just didn't want to do the track anymore. So there is that element to it. And I'd say the level of an IndyCar, people don't come after me,

but the level of talent within Formula One is higher than it is in IndyCar. And people are going to kill me for that. It's true. though. And you can love IndyCar whilst also admitting at the same time that IndyCar for me is like F1's problem cousin. Just like the cousin you have around at a family birthday, just a little terror, but you love it all the same. So there's merits to both side of the argument. For me, I would not change F1 for the sake of, I wouldn't make it a one-make formula as willpower is.

implying here, just for the sake of competition. Having said that, I do also enjoy IndyCar for that, for that reason. But they, I think they can coexist. I don't think you need to, there's a need to make F1 like IndyCar because that's just not the, what the spirit of F1 is. So I totally understand this point. And I, from what he said in his explanation, he sort of understands his own counter argument too, I think.

But it's just not just not what I want. F1 F1 to be, to be honest. I think that's fair enough. I think these comments will rile a lot of people up and I don't think they need to because I think they're fair. Will Power is not out here saying IndyCar is a superior series. He's just outlining these are the benefits we have in IndyCar right now. And it's, you know, he's still admitting that the better drive,

the best drivers in the world. and F1. Like, he's not disputing that. He's just comparing the two series. And if he wants to feel sorry for drivers that are in Formula One that don't get the same frill as he puts it from IndyCar, he can feel sorry for them. And then it's up to F1 drivers,

whether they want to listen to him or not. That's just his opinion. And that's perfectly acceptable. I've always thought, it's difficult to articulate it, but where I stand on the whole F1 versus Indy car and other motorsports debate, my view is that Formula One is without a doubt

the greatest Constructors Championship in the world. Absolutely. Driver's Championship is more complex because whilst I've always thought F1 is the greatest Constructors Championship in the world, there is always, with Drivers Championship, yes, you might have the best drivers in the world, but if you do only have two drivers

or let's say on a good year, four drivers that are capable of winning the championship, I don't want to ever say diminishes the achievement because it absolutely doesn't. All of those drivers have worked their way up to be in the spots that they are in the best teams. But if you're talking about competitiveness and you're talking about driver skill being as bigger percentage of what gets you wins as possible, IndyCar does that better than F1 does. That's just the truth of it. Like it's better than it used to be in that money has somewhat been stripped back as a reason for winning in Formula One.

We're not there yet, but it's starting to get there. But you're still in a position at the moment where driver skill is not the most important thing. You're still in a position where the car is more valuable than the driver right now. And it's still somewhat the case in IndyCar, but it's not as much the case. You're still, if you're in Indy car, you still want to be in a Chip Ganassi, or you still want to be in a in a Penske or or an Aaron McLaren or Andretti, yeah. We still don't see a lot of Kalamilat winning in a Young Koshollinger car. Like you don't, you don't always see all 27 drivers or however many there are on a weekend have a chance to win.

But you don't also have only two. You've got plenty more than that. So I don't have any problems with what Willpower is saying here. I think he's completely fair. To your point, Harry, people won't like us saying this. The best drivers are in F1. And,

you know, I'm going to protect you somewhat because I'm going to go a step further than you. Oh, thanks, man. No worries. There is no IndyCar driver that would get into F1 and be a top 10 F1 driver.

Not one. And, you know, there are plenty of drivers in IndyCar who would come to F1 and do a perfectly okay job and would not embarrass themselves. In fact, most of the grid would do that. But there's not, I cannot believe that there is,

I don't think there's one driver on that grid. There would be a top 10 driver in F1. I mean, Scotty D. Scott Dixon. Not anymore. Maybe back in the day. Maybe, not now. I mean, at the moment,

let's face it, Scott Dixon is on a par with Marcus Erickson. And Marcus Erickson was never a top 10 driver in F1. It's a fair point. It's a fair point. And Marcus Erickson is just modelling himself on, Scott Dixon. I love it so much. But yeah,

I don't think it's unfair to say it. And yeah, I, to his points about F1 being a like Indy car, I'm with you, Harry, I don't, I don't think it's,

it's quite as simple as what Will Powers saying it is. I think it's more of an idealistic situation from his side than actually a realistic one. So I don't want it to change just, just because of that. You know, at the moment you've got 10 teams

that are focused on innovation and groundbreaking new things that they can use for road cars. And you would start to lose that. There's a reason why there has been a push from all teams to develop even further and further and further to the point where they're so good these F1 cars now. They are far superior in terms of pure performance than the indie cars, right? And you don't want to lose that. You don't want to lose that. The teams are so good.

we get it every year. There'll be regulation change and they'll be like, oh, the FIA have made this regulation change is going to knock one and a half seconds off of that times and you turn up to testing and they're like two temp slower because they drive themselves so much to keep on top. You don't quite have the same thing in IndyCar

because of the way that it is as a series. So I wouldn't want, and I, that's your point. I'd like them to coexist and I think they do. Just be friends, everyone. Just be friends and have your preferences and be okay with others having different ones. Yeah, I mean, the beauty of F1 and IndyCar now is that they're happening on the same weekends a lot. So you're just watching an F1 race and then watch an IndyCar race. It's a whole day of motorsport.

Excellent. Exactly. I mean, I'd still like the Indy 500 to be a different weekend from Monacoa, honestly. Yeah, I mean, we had to squeeze a podcast in the middle of that. So we managed it, someone. Yeah, it was good. Good work from us. Okay, we're going to take a short break.

We'll be right back after this. Do you want to talk about Haas? Not really. Well, that's scuppers my plans a little bit. Okay, go on then. I mean, Sam's not like his. They won't be called impostors for once. True.

Yeah, we might be a bit friendlier with Hass than Sam would be. But here we go. They didn't have a great Spanish Grand Prix, if we're putting it bluntly. Niko Holger-Ogberg started out the weekend, very well. He was P3 in practice, which is pretty good. And then he made Q3 and he started P8 in the Grand Prix. The problem is neither hash driver finished in the top 10 or quite honestly even threatened it. We had, Nikolk Lek Hockermot was still the lead hash driver, but he finished P15. Kevin

Magnuson finished P 18. Both cars did three stops. And the only other car that did three stops in that race was, Lando Norris. And of course, he had to pit after the first lap. So the only true three-stoppers were the two hash drivers. Tireware feels like it's been a question mark for Hass for so long. Do you think that without solving it, they're just at this point where they cannot proceed further than where they're at right now? Yes, absolutely, because they can be as quick as they like. Michael Holkenberg can pull out all of these amazing quality laps and one-lapper's.

but it doesn't matter because if they're going to fall through the field like a stone every time because their tyre wear is terrible then they might as well qualify at the back and just go from there. So it's a similar sort of and probably less severe but Ferrari have had and still sometimes have a similar issue

where their tyre wear is just, they can be quick on a one lap but then their tire wear is abysmal. So yeah, it doesn't matter. as I said, they can be as quick as they like, but there's no points handed out on a sat. There's no points handed out on a normal qualifying Saturday. Oh, no, you set me off now.

You set me off now. Can anyone who watched the last two qualifying sessions tell me they still want to screw races? Oh, God. I know we've had two very good qualifying sessions. But that's why it's good. Oh, man. Oh, exactly.

Bloody sprint races. Yeah, I mean... Sorry. Yeah. Spain and Monacoa qualities were amazing. Better than the races. Anyway. But yeah, my point being is that normally,

points are not handed out on Saturday. So it doesn't matter how quickly we are. If they don't have the right race pace or good race pace, they're never going to pick up the points that they need. So if they can't fix it, they can't get on top of it, then I don't see how how they're going to how they're going to solve it,

to be honest. I mean, Nicke Hoggman could just dive on people like they didn't want to go, but even that didn't work. Yeah, just pick up penalties and get Gunterstina penalties

as a result of that. Yeah, I mean, both of them did three stops. And to be fair, going into the Grand Prix, three stop was definitely considered as a strategy, but ultimately none of the other teams,

even those that stopped early felt it was a good call but Hasse were pretty much forced into it because whilst they were pretty quick they were quick at the beginning of their stints was it coming which hash driver it was now who had fastest lap for

a lot of the Grand Prix but yeah I can remember if it was it whoever it was Pitt for the first time came out putting a couple of belters and then the tyres just dropped off from there and they couldn't cope with it.

Yeah, but how long has the... I think this has been going on since 2019. Oh, God, yes. You remember 2019, obviously they had a very bad 2021. And 2020 wasn't much better, but in 2019, they were very competitive over one lap, similar to what we've got at the moment. But the tyres just never lasted back then.

Yeah? No, I remember that it. Just sort of your ties out, guys. But we've gone over two, as well as the number of years, but since 2019, where they've still got the same issue, we've got across two different types of F1. I don't know what you've got in two different eras of F1 now. 2023 and 22 are so different to 19 through to 21,

yet they have carried over the same issue that they had before. it doesn't fill me with great optimism that they can solve this given the amount of time they've had to do it and the fact that they basically had a brand new build last year and they still didn't fix it. I wonder what it is. Should we have a look?

See if we can figure it out. Yeah, just let me try, I don't know. Try turning it off and on again. Is that helpful? Yeah. You can have Nika. And Nika Holgerberg's been great in qualified. this year. I mean, that was...

He's been absolutely Dunkin K-Mag. He has. That was the third time, I think, that he's made Q3 this year, which is pretty much half of the Grand Prix. He must be actually quite annoyed because he, as I say, Duncan, K-Mag and quality, and then by the time the race finishes, they're near each other again, because he's just fallen back through the field. So... Well, he was falling back so much in that first stint in Spain that I thought, I honestly thought

that was a problem with the car. I thought they were going to end up retiring it. And then at the end of the Grand Prix, it's just, oh no, it was just really bad tire wear. That's how slow he was versus those that he'd outqualified. He outqualified a Merck. He outqualified a Red Bull and he outqualified a Ferrari. Yeah, matters not. Matt, yeah, it doesn't matter what you do.

Sorry, Hulk. You can be as quick as you like, son. I don't think. obviously they were P5 in 2018. Can be years right? 2018 sounds right, but they should have been more, shouldn't they?

Yeah, the year that Renault picked them for P4, but to your point, they probably should have had P4 themselves. I can't see them getting back to that point until they saw these tire issues. No, I just, it just won't happen.

I don't see how it could happen because they'll just chew their tires up every, every race. Ironically, it's funny that we're talking about the battle for P4 in 2018 and like the king of the midfield and we're talking about Renault, aka ex-Alpine and they're just in the same spot again. It's no different. What an Alpine.

Back at it again. Oh, dear Alpine. There we go. I think we've, we've just about got time for a quick game. What should we go for, Harry? Oh, well, I mean, this has been, you know, months in the, weeks in the planning this game, it's been like 30 minutes. But we're going to go for a now classic game of real and no real. I just realised I should have played the RAVE version.

Very much a spontaneous game here. We weren't going to do a game. Then I complained that we weren't doing a game. So then Paul Kirsty had to think of some things to do for a game, which don't have to be real or no real. So I'm sorry Sam's not here to do the asking. But I'm asking the questions. I'm stealing someone else's work and claiming it as my own classic.

I'm asking Ben the questions here. So, Ben, are you ready? Not in the slightest Okay Well, you've not played this before either No Oh wow I gotta find the

What's it called The tension drone thing Yeah yeah Bear with I can't read my own writing It's like you It's not like me There we are folks

That's the badger Right There we go Question number one Oh Do you want me to ask you Do you want to three Four five or six

I'll just give you What do you want Well, I don't usually get the opportunity to actually pick the numbers, so I'll do that. What number would you like? What, one through six? I love number one, please. Okay, over the years of F1. Jeez, the did you redoos are back in?

How many bikes are there? Come on. Oscar, mate. It's not the time. Right, back in the room. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

the history of Formula One. Okay. There have been 24 father and son duos to compete in Formula One. Sounds on the surface like a lot, but

it's like 12 champion father and son combinations, so I'm never going to be able to count up all of them. On the surface, it sounds like a lot, but F1 is an

incestuous place at times, so I'm going to say real. Got to find the phone jingle now. I just realized I have to do the bit where he does the conversation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man. Hello? Yep. Yep.

I know you missed Sam. Okay. Thank you. The drone. I can't be able to do five more of them. Just misses Sam, yeah. Right. Oh, no.

Sorry. Benjamin Hocking. Yeah. You're wrong. It's no real. It's been 12. Yeah, that sounds more... It's a good start.

It's a good start. Right. Back, we're still... It's nil from 1. The number of July next, between 2 and 6. We'll go to the other end. I didn't like 1, so I'm going to go all the way to 6. Okay.

I've not even read these. This is how last minute this is. But anyway, carry on. Um, okay. A driver has been blacked flag for driving too slowly. I know that this one is what real. And I'm trying to remember the guy's name. It might have been Al P's.

Yeah. Hello? Yeah, I know. He's too good at this. A bit of a shelf, didn't he? I didn't get the first one right. Got the name and everything, though. I know, anyway.

Oh, sorry. You're going to do the tension music after that. Yeah, he's right. Sure. Yeah, it's true. Alps in 1969, Canadian GP got a lap 24 times. It's not great, is it?

That's a bit slow. We should be a bit kinder to some of these drivers, should we? Yeah, you got a lap twice. It's nothing. LPs is slow as slow as bulbs. Right. What do you want now?

Between two and five. I'll have number five. These aren't numbered either. Good. Right. In the 1969 season, Jackie Stewart, so Jackie Stewart,

won the championship with 69 points. Nice. Sure, Sam didn't write this. Oh, that's the only. That sounds like it's probably about right, based on the amount of races they had back then. They certainly didn't, they didn't get up to 100 points back then, I don't think.

Across the full season, they probably ended up a little bit short of that. So there's nearly seven wins worth in what was probably a dozen races, no more than that. You've been putting up the tension in it, Ben. Love it. I know, I'm doing a good job with this. I will say, I'll say real then. Yep, hello. Yeah, I know he did take for a long time to do that.

I know. He's playing the game now. All right. Thank you. What was your answer? What did you say? Real. He's wrong again.

It's false. It was 63 points. Oh, I can live with that. Not far off. Not far off. All right. You've got two, three, four. What would, what would you like, Ben?

Number two, please. I can see where this is going. Okay The first can of Red Bull Was sold in the same year That Sebastian Vetter was born Hang on a minute Our old Sebastian Vessel

First is 36 How old's he 36 I'm not going to give you the answer Something like that So he was probably born in around 1987-ish which yeah

that's probably about right I mean I'll keep saying real to all of these and some of them will be right I guess it's a good tactic yeah I think he might have said it up in around the late 80s so I'll say that's real hello

I know I know Sam is better at this fake conversation but I think Yeah, sorry, this is a real conversation. Yeah, I know, I know. I know this game was never supposed to come back, but, you know, desperate times. All right, thank you.

You're a nerd, Ben. Bang on, 1987. First kind of Red Bull. Oh, sorry, I didn't. I keep getting to do the extra bit. First kind of Red Bull was sold in 1987. Same year, Sebastian Vett was born. Right.

Tension music doesn't work quite as well after you said I got it right. Yeah, I know, sorry. I remember that this time. I just said Sam's better this. Okay, you've got number three or number four left. Yeah, I might go for number four here. Okay, Christian Horner, do you know him? I've heard of him.

Yep. Christian Horner once did a nude photo shoot alongside an interview where he states that his fantasy date would be Sandra Bullock. I mean, I don't know about the second part of that. Unfortunately, I do know about the first part of it. I will if if the Sandra

bullet part is wrong and it's actually a different person then that is very sneaky but I'll say this is real Hello Yeah and I've seen the photo it's disgusting

What was you thinking What does the banker think about Yeah I know You were sick Oh God Not a fan either All right Thank you

Benjamin Hocking You are right Yay Really need some Celebration music to come to that. I know I said that last time, but all right. Okay, so what, have I got three out of five?

Is that? You've got who's been keeping score? You got one two, yeah, three out of five so far. Okay. So last one. So I can't have a losing record. I'm fine. Correct. Harry Ead. Can I have number three.

Big number three, my lord. You may. Right. During his 12-year Formula One career Martin Brundall The legend that is Martin Brundle never led a single lap See, I think this one's true as well But I've said true a lot

Yeah, I don't think he did I'll say it's real Are you sure I realise I have now said that all of these are real But I do actually think this one might be right So yeah believable scenarios. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. Nice time. Thank God. Is it Mara Brundall? Martin? Yeah, how's it going? Yeah, yeah.

All good. How's Michael Douglas? Yeah, he's good. All right, cool. Can you put the banker on, please? Cheers. Hi, banker. Banker, I said that.

Cool. Close. Yeah, hi, banker. Yep. Yep, I know he said true for all of them. yeah, I know. Who do you think he is? Don't understand the game.

It's true or false. I'm sorry, it's real, I'm not real. That's what I mean. Real or real. Yep. What's the answer? Okay. Thank you.

Ben Hocking. For the potential of four out of six. It's a lot on the line. It's correct. He never led a single app of F1. He probably should have thought about doing that. I mean, Try a bit harder, Martin.

Oh, no. Sorry, that's a live off of Tifi. That's not even what I meant to play. I meant to play. There we go, the Rave version. Oh, yeah. Well, I think everyone will agree. That was a great success.

I am pretty sure everyone will disagree with that. Well, thank you to Kirstie for writing those in the background whilst we recorded that podcast. as ever we were prepared and we gave her an hour to write a quiz I thought that's enough that you're welcome the world of podcasting is welcome

I mean how good do you think that segment was we've had worse does that say much I can give you an even better segment oh how can I forget this was going to be a short podcast we've got on for ages now

yeah right go on then What's next, Ben? Because it is the greatest segment in all of Formula One podcasting. It is the LB. Question of the week. I am very much looking forward to Sam being back and singing along for that one. But we did a question of the week, which was, how would you break Charles LeClair out of Ferrari prison?

I mean, he does need to be broken out. You go first because I'm still loading it up after my success as a game show host. Okay, I'll name a few. What do we have here? We had Jeremiah Triplett, giant spagball delivered to the factory and we'll sneak Charles out the back door. That's great. We had Sarah on Twitter said that he gets here. I've actually written this one down as well.

Oh, he gets released. He gets released due to a Ferrari LeClerical era. Oh, very good, very good. I'll give you my top three, my top three for the week. So first of all, and number three, Quinlan Lloyd, get him Ocon's agent. If you're out of there in a moment and then I have a 46-year contract that Alpin Noiton.

My second favorite, my second favorite one is a bit niche and it depends on whether you've seen. Have you ever seen Prison Break? No. Okay. You probably won't find this one funny at all. But Arthur Leclair is going to go full Michael Schofield on him. I laughed a lot of that.

If you've seen Prison Break. Prismay fans will get that. They'll appreciate that one, Ben. But my favourite one came from, and this is quite brutal, came from Tim Jackson, which is tell him he's got provisional poll in Q3. Those walls won't stand a chance. That is savage.

That's brutal. Stivo on Instagram says, okay, we're looking into it. Keep pushing. We are checking. We are checking. Oh, Zavi.

Plan K. Yeah. There was also a plan Z along that similar line from from Rache or plan Z. Not sure what side of the Atlantic you're on. J.com. On Instagram just said leave him in, don't care.

Not a Charterobley fan, obviously. There are some pretty brutal, brutal answers on here. Yeah, yeah, a lot. All of the answers were either brutal or just were use Ferrari's incompetence against them. Get him to put ketchup on pasta, kicking him out of Italy and Ferrari forever.

They would do that. They would say, never come back here. on Instagram CMB 1912 aka bungers yeah yeah I'd give Ferrari

a 10 piece puzzle that will confuse them for hours and then just walk out that'll do it Simon in the 6 said some soft tires under a cardboard box held up with a stick

sure I'll do it. Oh man. Thank you as ever for those answers. It's great answers. It always blows my mind how creative you lot are. And how much funnier you are than us. I mean, that is a worry.

It does prove that anyone can do it. Anyone can do a podcast. Yeah. If we can do it, literally anyone can. Literally anyone can. Before we go. I tell you what, this is the last outro I have to do until Sam's back. So I'm absolutely delighted at this.

I do have one special mention in the outro before we get into the usual stuff. We do have a survey at the moment that will be in the description of this episode. I'll mention it in the next couple of episodes too because we'll keep it live for a couple of weeks. But we've got a survey. It's a very quick survey.

It takes five minutes. We do it every year just to ask you about our content, ask you about the podcast. What are you liking? What do you think could be added? What do you think could be improved? Things like the length of the podcast, guests, Discord submissions, about everything really.

So it only takes five minutes. Would really appreciate your support and your help if you wouldn't mind filling that one out for us. Thank you to everyone who's already filled it out because we've already shared it on Discord. Discord is a place where you can go, unsurprisingly. There is a link in the description for that one. We've got, I think, about 1,800 people in the Discord at the moment,

all chatting Formula 1 and other non-Fourn 1 things as well. You can follow us on TikTok. you can follow us on Instagram, you can follow us on Twitter. Twitter, we're at our breaking. The other two, we are the late breaking podcast. YouTube, we are very, very close to 10K now. I think it's any hour. I was going to say day, any hour now will be on 10K.

So if you wouldn't mind giving us an old subby-wobby over on the yub tubs, that would be massively appreciated. And Patreon, Patreon as well. So I think we've got our first Patreon episode for June next week that we'll be recording, but there'll be two for the month, as always. Plus beer with breaking if you are on the top tier. And yes, the link as well for that one is in the description. But that is it for the outro.

I haven't stumbled too much there. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Get Aldi Good. And remember, keep breaking late. Gag. Gag. is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.