The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Is Leclerc too error-prone to be a World Champion?

Episode Date: May 10, 2023

After losing control and crashing out in Miami GP Qualifying, the LB boys consider whether Charles Leclerc still makes too many mistakes to be a world champion with the right car. They also discuss Brad Pitt driving at Silverstone this year for upcoming F1 blockbuster, along with the impact of shortened DRS zones and the performance of Williams so far this season, and finish with a game of F1: True or False.. 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. And a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Eid, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. We've got no race coming up this weekend, I'm afraid, but we then do have like 12 in a row after that. So I'm sure we'll be thankful for at least one weekend without Formula One. Anyway, we're into the European season soon enough. I was expecting it to be just myself and Sam for this episode.

Sam, what's he doing here? Look, the boy can't make up his mind, whether he's the light version, the paid version, he's come back off his holiday, another one, folks, that's right. He's still already just got home again. And he's starting to turn up, Harry, you've decided to make the effort. Nice to have you. That's keeping it on your toes, lads. You know, will I won't he?

Will I won't he? That makes no sense. It's a great start. If you want to come on the show, you've got to be able to speak. Maybe I should have stayed away. I don't know. But anyway, as I'm sure you're all, as I'm sure you're all aware,

am I okay? Am I having a stroke? Go back on holiday. Come back tomorrow. I'll come back on Sunday. See you like that. Cheers, Harry. Appreciate that.

Coming up on today's episode, we're going to be playing true or false. Full disclosure, I intended for it to just be for Sam with the sole purpose of embarrassing him. But unfortunately, I get to embarrass both of them. Great. True or false is coming up later on. We can still be talking Williams.

Still in 10th place in the championship. Will their fortunes turn around? Why are they where they are? Shortened DRS zones at the last two Grand Prix. Has it worked? Is it a good idea for future races? But we're going to start with Charles LeCler. Is he too error prone to be a world champion?

Now, we've seen over the last two races, three separate crashes from Charles LeClaire, two of which happened in qualifying, and of course, a very detrimental one in Miami qualifying on Sunday. So, Sam, the question is, is he to error prone at this point in time to be a world champion, even if he had the car? I mean, it's one of those things where you could definitely rely on recency bias, and I think a lot of Formula One Twitter is relying on recency bias, the uproar that happened across the internet where he crashed again.

You know, people pulling out stats that they've never seemed to have heard of all of a sudden he's crashed more times than Nick Schumacher last season, all of already. Watch the clear. Yeah, you know, you got him. Well done. And the truth of the matter is, the car clearly doesn't sit too well with him. He's trying to push that car as hard as possible because the team is lacking in ability. They're struggling.

And mistakes then get made. you saw how gusking, how windy it was. He wasn't the only person that had any error. You saw Max Verstappen have the same problem in qualifying the differences. He just didn't crash the car, but he had to bing off the lap because it wasn't good enough. Is Charlotte Clare to Error Pro to be a world champion? I spoke of Max Verstappen two seconds ago. I'm going to use him as the key example for this point.

No, I don't think he is, but I do think he needs time now to, you know, just get the virtual rolling ping. I just smooth out those errors. You know, just bring a little bit of consistency. see the smoothness, see a racing. Max Verstappen used to be known as one of the most crash-happy cars going. He used to spin left, right and centre,

used to crash into people left, right and centre. And people said, no matter how quick he is, it's never going to be enough because of how inconsistent the guy is. Now look at him, we praise him every single week, week in week out. It's a two-time world champion.

He's got the joint most wings in a Red Bull. It takes time. Obviously, Max Verstappen joined Formula One when he was literally the age of a small P as a man. You know, he's being here and longer than I've been alive, it feels like.

Charlotte Claire has got that raw talent. He needs to calm. He needs to be a little bit more patient with the driving. And he needs to accept that maybe the car isn't where he needs it to be to get the results

that he wants out of it. But nonetheless, I really do think that you can all have a bit of a rusty start. You have a difficult patch. Charlotte Claire has got what it takes to be a world champion. He's still very much up there

with the cream of the crop in this Formula One group that we have on the grid at the moment. I think those who are jumping on the bangwagon of not good enough, wash, he sucks, get him out, why is he there? Yeah, I just feel, I don't know what you're driven by, definitely got a Formula One engine, more by anger and spite, a jealousy.

He's very good, and I think you're very silly to jump to these conclusions. So, Sam, you mentioned Max Vestappen, and how he had a spell in his career where he crashed it a lot, tend to happen about four or five years into his career, I think, when he was at his crash happiest, I guess. Leclair, I think of my maths is right, year six now. Is it at all worrying that it's maybe taking a little bit longer to get out of his system at all? I mean, I think it comes for a lot of the great drivers.

Even the likes of Lewis Hamilton, if you're new to the sport, you may not know about it. But here, a couple of years at the very start of the 2010 decade, where he was a little bit all over the place. You know, a few gravel traps are running off, a few gaps weren't considered in terms of size. The sixth year, yeah, I mean, Charlotte-Clair has been around a while now. He's one of the longer serving drivers on the grid, and you'd like to think that he'd be more consistent than not now. But with the fact that we've got these new regulations that are only, you know, we're only in year two, so lots of things are changing.

Ferrari are rapidly trying to adjust that car to catch up in terms of development with Red Bull as well. And both tracks that we've seen these events happening on, you know, Baku and Miami, have been a little bit difficult in terms of wind, in terms of the environment that we've been seeing them around, in terms of the grip levels. Miami was atrocious for grip. You saw how much rain happened over both nights that we were there. I understand why this was difficult, and I don't think this is going to carry on throughout the whole season.

I really just think that LeCler is a bit frustrated, and he's pushing the car beyond what it's actually capable of to try and keep the gap close. So it's not just Red Bull, but Bessagos and Ashton Martin, who are also directly in that fight for second place. Harry, do you think that Leclair is too error-prone at the moment, or is it more of a symptom of where Ferrari are? I am with Sam on this

I think it's a symptom of where Ferrari are he that Ferrari at the past two races hasn't deserved to be anywhere near and I'm basically on one lap pace anywhere near the Red Bulls and obviously LeCler took pole in Baku

potentially if that lap and I hate the whole you know could have been the greatest lap in the world if he finished it well it wasn't but if he had finished that lap that could have been poll worthy as well potentially. But it is just a case of he's having to overdrive that car.

And there's only so much you, as a driver, as brilliant as Leclair is, there's only so much he can do before that car is going to spit him off the road, which is done a few times now. So, yeah, look, this isn't, that he can't keep doing it, obviously, but it's, I don't think this is a worrying sign necessarily. as you've already mentioned with Vestappan and Hamilton,

you know, yes, LeCla is probably a bit further on into his career, but I think the circumstances are maybe slightly different. He still doesn't have the best car underneath him that's worthy of his talent. So, yeah,

he can't keep doing it, obviously, because it's going to become expensive and questions will be asked. But I think this is more, it isn't like Nick to freeze, where he just keeps. Oh, don't know.

Come on. Don't get me started. Don't get him started. But my point being is that it's not like he's just crashing and being slow and not overall not very good. He's crashing because he's having to overdrive that car. And for the most part, he's overdriding is working. But then there are a couple of times when it's not and it's costing him. But I don't think that if you look back to the, I don't know, Schumacher days in the early Ferrari days,

where the cars went up to scratch. He had similar crashes, where he was just overdriving that car and it would eventually give up and fall off the road. So I'm not too worried about Leclair, if I've been honest. LB stands for late boring on today's episode because we're kind of all in agreement here. My answer is also, no, I don't think he is too error-prone

to be a world champion. That doesn't mean that there's not room for improvement. There certainly is, but I do think a lot of this is down to the pace or rather the lack of pace of the Ferrari at the moment. They are struggling. And Shao LeClaire is having to drive, I would say 100%,

but it's probably closer to 110% of what that car is capable of to compete with the likes of Red Bull, particularly in qualifying. And we've seen on the last three occasions, and I say three because I'm including Baku twice, if that makes sense. On two or three occasions, he's got that.

that pole position away from Red Bull. And quite honestly, he might have got close in Miami. I don't think that the Ferrari quite at the pace even on Saturday compared to what they had in Baku. But again, he was in a position where he can't drive at 99%. He can't drive at 98% because it just isn't going to get the job done. I think what we're seeing, in all honesty, is a very different approach from LeClaire versus, say, Fernando Alonzo, where both of them are pace-wise. in a fairly similar spot in that they're nowhere near Red Bull.

They seem to be going at it two different ways where Alonzo is just every point I can take, don't overdrive the car and be stupid and lose a podium that way, just rack up these third places finishes, fourth place finishes, and it will get you there. And that's why he's ahead quite far ahead in the championship versus Lecler. Lecler seems to be going with the opposite approach of, I don't really care about being runner up. I did that last season.

I just want to beat Red Bull any means necessary. And if that means the odd crash here or there, so be it. Not that he's delighted with it, but it's what it's going to take to get that odd pole position, to get that odd second place, I guess, away from Red Bull. And I think one important point is that not all of the crashes are created equally either. So there is, if we look at the last three crashes, for example,

so Baku, he'd already got provisional poll by the, the time he had crashed that car. So if he was already at 100% on that first poll lap that he did, he knows that he can take a few more risks on that second lap. And ultimately, he's still got pole position anyway. Miami in practice, again, you'd rather have that crash, a practice in Miami versus say, Baku, where you've got more time to recover from that crash in terms of time on track.

If it crashed light in practice one of Baku, as an example, that's a really bad time to get a crash because you'd be behind, working from behind all weekend long at that point. The one crash, the Miami qualifying one, is the one that I would poke holes in the most and the one I don't have sympathy with

because Vestappen was ninth. Charles LeClaire did not really have a bank of lap. It was basically seventh of anyone who was there. So, yeah, he had less motivation to go all out. There was still incentive for him to take a Peter or take a P3 or a P4. He didn't. He pushed too much on that app.

So I do want to see him evaluate that risk and reward a little bit more in that sort of situation. But it is more than anything else just where Ferrari are. He is kind of has no choice. So there you go. F1 Twitter. We've solved it. Suck it. Your wash.

Your wash, F1, Twitter. F1. Washed. Washed. To be fair. Have a shower. It doesn't make sense. You'll wash and have a shower.

Oh, shut up. Let's move on. Your teeth smell great. Brush your teeth. Anyway, we'll take a short break here. And we're going to be talking about Brad Pitt right after this. Firstly, just to apologize, because I hoped up that there would be a guest on this episode on the Miami Review. not today. It will happen, I promise. We can claim that Harry was the special guest because he wasn't expecting to be here, but we promise you. Not just one guest, more guests, plural, are coming in future weeks and months. So stay tuned. But at least for now, you'll have to deal with the three of us. And we're talking about Brad Pitt in his movie that's coming out because we know that filming is going to start very soon on that. So Lewis Hamilton is helping to produce this Formula One movie. Brad Pitt is playing the role of an experienced driver that's coming out of retirement.

I believe Brad Pitt is nearing his 60th birthday, but we'll say it's going to be believable. It was revealed at the weekend that Pitt will drive on track between sessions at the British Grand Prix in what will be something of a modified Formula 2 car, although there was a bit of confusion as to exactly what involvement he would have in the weekend before it was clarified a little bit later on. Sam, is this a distraction? Should this be, is this happening too close to a race weekend? Is it merging too much in with the action? Well, it was hilarious when it all came to light

how this was going to be evolved across a race weekend. I remember, including us on our social media, which you could go follow at or breaking on Twitter, people were suddenly thinking that, you know, Brad Pitt in a modified F2 car, would be starting at the back of a Formula One grid on a live race day and something was going to change, which is a hilarious.

miscommunication. And a ringer of information went round of, you know, Lewis Hamilton's setting purple sectors. He's leading the way. Oh, no, it's a red flag caused by Brad Pitt, crashing into the wall. That's a good joke. Lewis Hamilton's not going to be fastest. Exactly. That's why we all know it was unrealistic. So is it a distraction? It's very bizarre. And Lewis Hamilton must surely be looking in two different directions here. You know, he's got to be focusing on the fact that he's in a car that isn't against best. He's trying to pull results out of the back. He's trying to be his absolute best that he can be. Lasserong in his career as well, which, you know, he's off his peak. We can all understand that. But at the same time, this is his project. He's directly responsible for it. He's

producing it. He's running a crew that are there. He's working with, you know, global stars like Brad Pitt, whether you like him or not. I'll give you a clue, folks. I don't. Anyway, I can understand why on a live race weekend, this might come across as a bit awkward, a bit dodgy, a bit weird. I don't really know what to think of it. How about you, Ben? What do you think about the actual running live on a race weekend that we're seeing? I am worried because we know a few things about the British Grand Prix.

Number one, there is going to be Formula 3. Number two, there is going to be Formula 2. And number three, there is going to be Formula 1. Now, it might have made sense for me to do that the other way around, so the numbers were the same. I wish you. But I didn't. because I just want to annoy Sam. So we're in a position where both support series are going to be there at Silverstone.

I am worried that there's going to be something that happens on track in the actual, you know, motor races. And it's going to disrupt the weekend because they're going to try and get this filming squeezed in. So I actually had to look back because I was curious about last year, because they had F3 and F2 at Silverstone last year as well. So I was curious to see what were like the average time differences between sessions to see like how much leeway we can have. There's generally like 25 minutes or so between sessions. So say F3 quali, for example, there's only 30 minutes between F3 quality and then F1 second practice. And then there's another 30 minutes between second practice and F2 quali.

So we're not dealing with a lot in terms of. in terms of leeway if something goes wrong. We know that red flags happen in sessions. We know that stoppages happen. We know that there are unexpected weather delays. Are we going to count on the British weather to not do something silly? I'm not sure about that. I'm absolutely fine with this, just provided that there's a very clear pecking order,

which is F1, F2, F3, anything like Paddock Club, like sponsors, whatever, like any obligations that have to be met is fourth. And then filming is the last priority. So if something happens that's going to disturb one of the top two, it's the filming that goes or is the least prioritised. I fear, though, because that would be common sense, that isn't going to happen. And they're going to put it to be too important that might,

I don't know, I'm worried. When something could go wrong in F1 and the FIA is involved, it usually does. We're not restarting this F2 race because Brad Pitt needs to fill. I'm genuinely worried that that would happen. Sorry, guys, Brad Pitt's still in the wall. Can we just delay everything by 20 minutes? I'm also worried about that.

That's probably my number one concern is that Brad Pitt's going to have a massive shunt. Of all the places, of all the places to do this, Silverston, one of the quickest tracks on the calendar. Off you go, Brad. Knock yourself out, mate. flies off of maggots think I had to break there hey just make sure you rejoin the track all right don't know if you saw that at the weekend

oh my god well the British CT yeah yeah anyway that's right well you finish Ben sorry yeah yeah go on yeah I'm on the same wavelength as you I am worried that this is going to be

as he say prioritise when it when it shouldn't be I've got to say the entire film itself the premise and I can't remember if I mentioned this on an actual podcast so I'll be it with braking but it reeks of the film

driven which is the champ car naughty's champ car film well Sylvester Stallone also plays like this this aging out of retirement figure the wise old driver and it's so terrible that it's good

that that film so part of me is a bit worried about that but yeah in terms of the actual distraction from a race weekend if you go back and watch one of the first I guess Formula One films, which is Grand Prix, they did a lot of that. But that's because it was in the 1960s.

It's a bit different now, folks. You know, if you look at that film, you had literally F-1 driver just like having a drink in the background because having a fag and a drink, it was that sort of film. But yeah, this does concern me slightly. Domenicali has referenced it as invasive, right? That's why he's worn the teams. It will be invasive. And it's not just the British Grand Prix.

It is set to be other races as well. Is anything described as invasive a good thing? I believe he used that word. Is that ever been good? Hello, Sam. This chock bar that you're eating will be invasive to your mouth. No one's ever said that to me. I hope they never do.

It worried me a little bit because you're absolutely right. No one has ever used that word in a positive manner. But like I... Netflix, at least for Netflix and Drives to Survive, it feels like, obviously they have the interviews that are set aside, but they're kind of just there in the background doing their thing, capturing the action. If Domenicali is actually coming forward and saying this is going to be invasive,

I'm worried that I don't know. Do you know what, on the flip side, I do think that Formula One and Liberty are doing a brilliant job at broadening the horizons of the entertainment sphere of Formula One. And you, I know, whether you liked it or not, we even saw it at the Miami Grand Prix with the Will I Am Lil Wayne song. This is the Formula One.

Now, don't be wrong. It's not my cup of tea, folks. I'm not going to sit there and be playing that in the car as I'm driving around, but it shows you the level of commitment they have from outside Star Power. And I have a little bit of more faith than, for example, the Sylvester Stallone movie

that was referenced previously, that one Lewis Hamilton is involved. Now, I can't imagine that Lewis Hamilton, who has such love and commitment to this sport, is going to allow something to be, made that makes it look farcical, silly, outright, you know, a laughing stock. Brad Pitt, whether you like him or not, is a very committing actor and gets the job done a lot of the time. And thirdly, you look at more recent products that have come out around racing. You only have to

look at something like Rush that was made, the level of effort, the level of research, the cinematic ability that went behind it, the storytelling was almost true to life. Of course, it has some entertainment aspects included. But for the most part, you can reference part of Rush and it's historically accurate. There are things about it that are based entirely on truth. So I like to think that as much as the characters are fictional

and the events they're going to be portraying are fictional, I like to think that the funding, the people behind it, the project is going to do Formula One some justice. So I'm hoping that it doesn't disrupting with the live action,

but this could be good for Formula One. I'm not going to lie, there's a little part of me that is very curious to go and see it. I just don't know how they're going to convince people. I know Brad Pitt is not an old-looking 59, but he's over 15 years older, Fernando Alonzo. He ain't young, is it?

He ain't young. Like, I, I mean, Louis Chiron's going to be absolutely gutted that his record for being the oldest driver to score points in F1 is going to go. Fictionally. If they were an older-looking F-1 drive, they should have cast me, because I'm, you know. Race with Fangio.

I did. We're close. I've got a story about him on the Patriotron coming up in a week or so. Hey. Yeah. Nice. Nice. Nice plug, Sam. Good work. Good work. We'll leave that there. I'm sure it's probably going to come up in discussion again in the future, but we'll leave it there for now. On the other side of this break, we're going to be discussing DRS zones and whether shortening them is the right idea.

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We really appreciate it when you do, and it helps the community grow. Because if other people see five-stars, they think, ah, maybe these people aren't idiots. They're soon proven wrong, but at least they think that in the first place. You know something else that I've noticed has come up as well? On Spotify, you get a little Q&A sometimes when you listen to one of our episodes. And it asks you, oh, what do you think of the episode? When you answer those, we do get to read them.

So we appreciate any kind words or feedback. Have either of you read those? I read quite a few the other day. I were nice. I've not, so, but I will. Shock. You should read them. They're actually nice.

Oh, good. I will then. And if you leave a five-star review, if your comment makes us laugh enough, we'll actually read it out on the show. I've actually got one here. And I'm not going to be able to say who it's from. I'm actually just going to,

I'm just going to text the guys what the name is and they'll soon understand. why I'm not actually going to read this out loud. There you go. But the review itself, I can read, which was three lads, three lads who talk about F1 and other ramblings. Sometimes it really is an acceptable dog walk listen.

That's what we strive for. Acceptable. If we have a poster, If we have a poster, we'll put that on there. An acceptable dog walk, listen. Yeah, it might be. If you heard annoyed, a little bonged then, that was just our producer rejoining the call.

So I'm just going to... Hello, Kirstie again. Hello, Kirsty. One of my favourite things to find out is where people listen to the show. I love the most obscure places. Like, do you save it strictly, I don't know, for when you have a shower, do you whack a podcast?

Are we in the bathroom with you, getting all lather or? Or is it around Astor? You know, we love a little Asker show. Where does it just to drive? Let us know. I love a weird, obscure podcast. Listen.

Like that guy who was doing. is reversing. No. So good. Anyway, appreciate the five-star review. Thank you very much. Let's get on to the topic,

which is looking at DRS zones. So it's been a hot topic recently with both Baku and Miami having their DRS zones shortened. A lot of controversy from Baku as a result of that, not a lot of overtaking there. And of course,

we had it happen in Miami as well. And now the discussion turns to should it happen? in races going forward. A lot of the drivers very much against shortening DRS zones. So Sam,

based on the last two Grand Prix, has it worked? And what would you do with it moving forward? It hasn't worked to be completely blunt. We have seen two, I think, you know,

Miami was better the Baku. That's, you know, we're all in agreement on that. But it wasn't exactly an all-time thriller, was it? We didn't exactly have, you know,

passes, left, right, and centre going on. Six-10, right? Great, brilliant. And also, So, you know, DRS, I think, in this modern era of Formula One,

when we're trying to encourage close racing, wheel to wheel battles, not just overtaking before a breaking zone on the longest straight on a track. DRS fundamentally doesn't help any of those points. And I really do think that whether we have a long DRS zone, whether you have a short DRS zone, regardless, the result typically isn't that exciting. You almost have to really nail it. So every DRS zone allows you to break late, a little bit into a heavy braking zone,

you'll get the move done, which is very hard to calculate. So I think DRS fundamentally has come to the end of its helpful life in Formula One. I really don't think it's adding much anymore. And it was, I think Marcus Erickson, of course, who's now over an IndyCar,

who was very much being a big of a moving PR ball for IndyCar over the last few weeks in talking up how IndyCar is much more entertaining in Formula One. And a lot of it is that what he attributes is, of course, to the push-to-pass process that they have in IndyCar, which is not DRS focused on one straight or two straights, or in case of Australia, four straights. It is, of course, a time allotment where you get access to extra power at the push of a

battle, very much a bit like when we had Kerr's a long time ago, just over a decade ago now, but this runs over a whole race. You don't just get a lap after lap and get recharges. I genuinely think that we see a lot more strategic deployment, a lot more wheel-to-wheel battles in different parts of the track. and you'd be really surprised at maybe cars making late surges or cars depleting it too early or something like that. And it would really create a much more in-depth, analytical and yet fun way of looking at Formula One and how overtakes can be manufactured. Because I just think in its current guides, DRS, whether it be long, whether it be short, it is not doing what it needs to do anymore.

It's just allowing you the drivers to breeze past on the straight and it's an inevitable move. and is an inevitable move any more exciting being no move? I'd argue no, personally. Or it's too short and the driver just simply can't get close anyway and we don't have a move that happens at all. So they're not fun. I would argue that Formula One need to look at alternatives to DRS at this point personally. But to answer Ben's question blankly, short to DRS zones, have they worked?

No. You talk about the sort of slam dunk passes of DRS when you know, when that's in effect, would you not suggest that the longer DRS zones actually make that more of a more of a problem? I mean, I could see your point where you might say it's a problem, but for me, at least we're seeing parties happen. It's not exciting.

I've just punched the microphone. Sorry, folks, if you heard that. I'm so angry at DRS. I'm fuming. I think my preference for longer DRS zones are if, say, for example, we do see, I don't know, the stabbing starting 20th place, If he's only able to make passes on a straight anyway,

then at least we're seeing passes be made. What is so unenjoyable is, say, watching, I don't know, Vastappen cruising around behind Nick DeVries, not because he's fastening up because the car's fastened, but because the track simply doesn't allow any overtaking anyway. That's also boring. I don't want to see cars just sat there for 30 laps until the next car has to appear. That is equally not boring.

So I'd rather see a car have an actual option of making a pass in some way, even if it is not exciting. Do you understand what I'm saying there? So I guess uninteraining pass is better than no pass. I think so. It just becomes frustrating when you see a driver or a car

that's clearly far superior but because the track simply doesn't allow it, there's no excitement created. Harry, what were your thoughts on the DRS zones from the last two Grand Prix? Yeah, I... I sort of agree with Sam, but I don't want the slam dunk passes of them, you know, if the DRS zones are longer.

Baku's such, I still don't quite understand Baku. I'm with Sam on that I think DRS has had its day, but there are other problems as well that I mean the racing is not great. And I said this in the review, I think, about the tyres and can't just have hard tires to do an entire race. We need something to mix up the strategy. I think that you combine that. And then with a different solution to DRS and you get a better, better race.

But yeah, I don't necessarily want just people cruising past each other on this train. For me, that's just as boring as not watching a car. At least with, at least with the shorter DRF zones, you know, they were rare, but we got moves like the one Russell made on signs. That was a lovely little move. And it came from a long way back. and it was enabled by DRS, but it wasn't purely a DRS pass.

So that's what I want. But I'm with Sam. I'm fully convinced now that we need a push-to-pass system because it just creates more options. There's more strategic opportunities. If you look at the last couple of races they've had in IndyCal this is, sorry, like Grojean went from one way he didn't use barely any because he had to say fuel to the last one where he.

he used all of it, like 10 laps before the end, and then he lost the lead. So that's the sort of thing. You want. And I think we had that more with Kerr's than we do now with the energy recovery systems. But something around that, we don't have to call it push to pass, obviously, because that's what Indyad call it. But something around that is the solution I go for.

So I agree with sound on that one. The shorter DRS zones, I'm okay with them. I think the problem in Baku was, again, more down to the strategy. everyone got nailed onto the one-stop strategy as soon as the safety car came out. So that made the race boring. Miami was better. I was actually okay with the DRS zones there.

I think they were long enough because even if you didn't get the pass done in, you know, on the backstrike, you got it done more often than not on the main straight afterwards. So yeah, it was better. But for me, we need something else now. Well, if we're talking about the two races in comparing them in any way.

I'm not saying Miami was great, but Miami was the race that Baku should have been. So Miami probably would have been a carbon copy of Baku if we had a safety car at the same time as we'd had in Baku. We'd have seen the likes of Vestappen and anyone else starting on the hard tire. They'd have gone very long into the race, same as what happened with Baku. And we'd have had the sort of same situation where everyone was running the hard tire.

Anyone on the mediums would appear as soon as the safety. car came out at Miami. I think we were lucky. I know a lot of people wanted more carnage from Miami, which is fair enough. But actually, I think if we had a safety car at that point, it would have, it would have ruined the race, I think. So yeah, I think overall at Baku, I agree with your point, Harry, that ultimately it wasn't ideal in terms of the lack of overtaking. really the issue was the tires, not the overtaking zones. The fact that you can do a whole Grand Prix very comfortably on one set of tire, that can't happen.

And I don't really care what you do with DRS. If that's an issue, you're never going to solve F1's problems completely. So I do appreciate that tires isn't something we can do, isn't something we can fix overnight, whereas DRS is something that we can change race to race. So at least in the short term, we might need to review DRS. but long term, I think the tyres need a really good looking into. From Miami's perspective, I think the DRS owner was spot on at Miami.

I think certainly if we're looking at the back straight, I can't remember what the turn number is, but whatever leads into the penultimate corner, I think the DRS was pretty much spot on going into that corner. I don't think we had many incidents where a car flew passed on that straight. I think most moves were made into the corner, which is encouraging. and then even into turn one for the most part, the drivers needed to at least somewhat work for it.

So I think the DRS zone, they probably got right in Miami. I know there was a lot of pushback after Baku. So I don't know whether the drivers might disagree, but I think they got it right here. I appreciate we're probably not ready for a DRS-less world yet, or at least some sort of solution. You mentioned push to pass. We still need some sort of aid in terms of.

terms of overtaking. But, yeah, at least if we're shortening it, we are experimenting and we're looking into it. I like you, Harry, I'm just conscious that we can't have these slam dunk overtakes that don't really provide a lot of entertainment. We've mentioned IndyCar already a few times. Roman Grosjean's overtake on Scott McLaughlin for the lead. Absolutely. That is living in my mind.

Rent free. Can I bring something up, actually, on that front? for you, Raymond James. We've got a noise effect there from Harry, thank you on the soundboard. That sounded wonderful in my ears. Yuki Snoda, through the Mickey Mouse section, they'll have to call it.

Not broadcast once. That was good. Absolutely incredible little move around the outside of that section. And I've realised why I found the race so dull. I'm so bad. It was the TV direction. It was so poorly executed.

The most of the movies, you're going to have great buildup. You barely saw them coming. Or a lot of the time we watch them via replay. And that sucks a lot of the fun out of them. So maybe if we could get a perfectly executed camera crew on the site, that would also help with a lot of a fun. Yeah.

But I agree with both of your points on a push-to-pass system. I would much rather that. I feel like if it actually happens, we're going to stand really proud because we've been on this for years. Like we've been like leading the charge on push-to-pass versus DRS. So when it comes in and it works, we expect loads of plaudies. It's a very small charge.

It's got a lot of people running behind us, Ben. It's us three. You know that, you know that video where it's the three people on top of like the building with all their fans? There's like to like three people at the bottom. That's a DJ set. And there's three of us going, yeah, push your pass. Oh, man.

Not to keep banging on about tyres. But if you think back to Miami, all the exciting action came from tire offset. That's why we would have got the same. race as Baku if we had the safety car. The Stamper may be excluded, but I mean, at least it was some action for the, you know, change of the lead, but the Alonzo signs move, the Russell signs move, the Hamilton on the Claire move. All of that was down to tyres. We need a bigger change in the degradation and speed element of those tyres.

Soft needs to be rapid, but going in three, four laps. Medium needs to be all right, but you know, can't last forever and hard. It needs to be like four seconds slower, but could do the whole race if you want it to. I don't think I agree on the soft tires because that's kind of the position we're in at the moment and they're just not used at all. I'd like to see three viable tyres in terms of a race and I think we've got two at the moment.

Can you imagine like that Miami race? So you've got the two viable one-stop strategies, hard to medium to medium to hard. Throw a two-stop in there. Whoa! That'd be fun, wouldn't it? Yeah. Give me two stops that are mandatory.

But do them. Two stops till I die. again, two-stop strategies on the top of the balcony, the three of us in the car park. Two-stop, two-stop, two-stop. I feel like there's more support for that, though. Come along to the car park. Okay, we're moving away from D-RS. We can't talk about D-R-S anymore, surely.

We'll talk about Williams instead. They're still P-10. They still only have one point all season. That was Alex Albin scoring a point in Bahrain. Apart from that, Nader. Logan Sargent, nothing from the first five races. Alex Albin has had a few. few near misses to this point. Sam, why are they last, apart from the fact that they've only

got one point? I mean, it's a series of, you know, reasonings that you could put behind this poor, once again, I got a really poor start to the season, which actually showed a lot of promise, I think, by the time we were kind of reaching Australia, it looked like they were regularly going to be fighting along the midfield. And I guess they are, to a degree, but Logan recruits for some reason lost. We're sticking with LR, yeah. Yeah, we were going LR at the moment because I know what's going on with the chap. He had a really promising star, and I think we all kind of ate our words a little bit.

We're all thinking out of it. The king's got a bit of talent, is doing well. And, you know, since we've come back from, you know, spring break, he's not been good at all. And I don't know what happened to him in Miami because once again,

we've never seen it. If you have seen the footage of how he loses his front wing, I'd love to know, because I don't literally know how it exists, but not good. Not very good at all, finished last. So, you know, part of the reason they're not scoring points is because you've got poor performances

from someone like Logan Recruit, who is, of course, a rookie. But still, we've seen great rookie performances. He is displaying it at the moment. Alexander Alman on the other side of the garage keeps almost being there. He's almost there every time. You know, Australia, for example, almost there. He would have possibly scored for what? On the worst day, if he didn't being it, four points, maybe six points, you know,

on a great day, which will put him into, put Williams into eighth or seven. But on a good day, the day that I think was accurate, He could have scored maybe 10 or 8 points, which you'll put them closer to Alpine and McLaren then it were to the back of the grid. And suddenly Williams are fighting for the fifth, sixth area on the, you know, the board. So Albon needs to step it up and start delivering because he's like a few shaky ones.

And now the tracks really don't suit that car. We've lost a lot of the pure outright straight-line speed tracks. You know, Jed is a very power-based track. Bahrain is a very power-based track. Australian hour with its DRS side is a very power-based track. Baku is great on. one half of the power, but the other half, that sector two is so diminishing for them that I don't think they have the capabilities. And I think Miami was very much the same. I really don't think

it played into their strength. So I'm worrying now that for Williams, with the car and how it functions, we're not going to see them excel until we get to the likes of Austria, maybe Sparer if they could get ahead on a good one. Monser, you know, they're going to have maybe five or six races across the rest of the season where they might outdo some close opponents. But with the likes of Haast, seemingly picking up some good performances, Alpine after Miami, if they could carry on. They're looking like they're gone. And if McLaren's upgrades do come good, it's going to be a struggle. They need to strike while the iron was hot at the start of the season. They failed to do so

and now they're paying the price. They really could have been higher up than this and they're not. The fact that Alfa Tariar above them, all down to Yuki Sanoida being a little legend and he's still only got one point himself. He's got two, I think. Two. Sorry, Yuki. I've slighted you. Rude. To your point on William's characteristics of the car, next three races, Imola, Monaco, Spain. It's going to hurt. It's going to hurt.

Doesn't scream Williams, either, any of those tracks. You might well be right in terms of waiting for a little bit later in the season to see some of Williams better performances. Harry, why do you think they are where they are? Because to Sam's point, there's the potential's there. Yeah, I agree with what Sam said. They should have had more points from this season. Australia is probably the biggest one that springs to mine in terms of points lost

because we saw how hard it was to overtake in Australia and I think it could have kept, I think he had to stroll behind him at the time I think it could have kept behind several cards and scores and he keeps stroll behind him, that's P4 right? Well, exactly. Is that how high he was running? Well, I guess because that's where he struck. That's where he finished, right?

Yeah, yeah. There was three, four, wasn't it? I mean, to be fair, given the restarting Australia, then who knows where anyone would to finish. But, um, yeah, the point still stands. I think there were several points up for, up for grabs there. And they didn't, they didn't take it. So as Sam said, they needed to strike while the iron was hot.

And whilst other teams have been flapping about like Alpine and McLaren, and they had some strong tracks like Baku and Jeddah, some high speed tracks that, I guess, benefit their, their car. And they should have been picking up some more. points and they haven't. So it does, I think you said this in the review, Ben. Williams turn up to each weekend, you go, oh, this is looking all right. And then you get to Sunday, nothing happens.

He's like, why, why, what happened? So they seem to show promise, but just can't quite convert it into a decent result, which is, which is a shame because I feel like this year, actually, they, they had the promise to to step up and score a few more points, which so far they haven't. So, yeah, as you say, the next few races are going to be tricky, barring any crazy, crazy races.

And then, I don't know, what do they have to wait for that's more of their sort of track? Monza? They need a 30-mile-long strength. That's all they need. There's going to be, Red Bull are going to win every race this season,

apart from Monza, where Williams will win, and Monaco, where McLaren will win. apart from that, Red Bull in every race. Yeah, exactly. So, yes,

it's going to be a tough few races, I think for Williams and, anyway, I hope they can pick up points later in the year, but they should be looking at more right now. Yeah, that car, I think is better than Alpha Tauri.

I think it's better than Alpha Romeo. I think it might be on a par with the Hass. McLaren are currently fifth on 14 points. Alpina McLaren are actually level fifth. sick for the moment. How would McClure there? Well, Australia. That's kind of the point. That's the only reason they're there. And the only reason they could have that Australia result was because the likes of Alex Almond didn't finish. It sounds crazy. But Williams, who are currently P-10, if they had a couple of things go their way, and some of it's self-inflicted, but they could be fifth. They could be fifth right now.

I'm not saying that the fifth fastest car, but that is not an unreasonable result for things. that have happened this year. You mentioned Logan Sergeant P-12 in Bahrain. If that's not his rookie race, is he in the points? Quite possibly. Alex Albin was P-12 in Azerbaijan. Alex Albin did the Baku race the wrong way round because he finished P-9

of course in the sprint and then finished P-12 in the actual race. He gets that the other way round. That's a couple of points coming his way. And we know that Australia, he's probably looking at I think minimum, I think minimum eight points. I think he might

we'll be looking at about a fifth place finish there, a few finishes, just based on what happened after he crashed out. Now, there's a lot of what ifs because a lot of the what ifs happened because he crashed, but point being, he was quick there. And to your point, Harry, I don't know how many cars were getting past him based on how quick that car is in a straight line. So, yeah, they should be on way more than one point. I think their qualifying pace is a bit better than their race pace at the moment.

And I'd like to see that converted a bit more in terms of the Grand Prix. on a Sunday. But yeah, the last point I've got written down here is the same thing that Sam said, which is they might have missed the boat somewhat. They might have missed the boat on the races where they would expect to be better. Because I know Spain is a converted sector three back to the old sector three that we used to have, which definitely... Oh my God, Ben, you're going to boil my blood.

I don't even believe it. I just love saying it. But even with that, that plus Imola plus Monaco doesn't both very well. They might be heading into the likes of Austria and Silverstone, still in 9th or 10th place. But that gap to the teams ahead like Hass or Alpine or McLaren might be larger than they would like and larger than it is right now. Okay, we're going to take our last quick break.

On the other side, we're going to be playing true or false. Okay, four topics in. you must have thought that we had forgotten about this, and we nearly did. But no, F1 Fantasy Update time, five races in. This is how everything is looking. Firstly, congratulations, because we have a new leader at the top

on 1,718 points. It's Big Shaq! I can't confirm whether that's actually Shaquille O'Neal. Feel like it's not possible or probable, but let's say that it is. Oh my God, imagine if it was. Chishak Top scorer of the week though

goes to We Need Andretti With 440 points Appropriate name He was a He was walking around the group Wonnie Let's see how the three of us are doing

So I am in 21st Which might be up a place I can't know Something isn't it Yeah I think that's basically where I was last week So I've got 1,6666 points Harry Ead is second. He's used a token, so I'm not too...

Hang on, we're not glossing over the fact that Harry knows how to use a token on this game. I only discovered it on Friday. I didn't know that. They were a thing. There are so many. So many too many. I know, Harry. Oh, man.

Anyways, Harry used this times three token on Max for Stauffin, which ended up being a good move because he had a load of overtakes as well as winning the Grand Prix. So Harry is up to a huge jump to 295th, which leaves Sam as third out of the three of us at 312th. But that's still a bit clear of Beef. 430th. If Beef did go in the right direction this week, though, so it is comeback of the century for sure.

Beef is going to turn this around. Can I ask a question about F1Fantasy? Yes. Good one then. I don't understand. how the points work. No idea. That's not a question.

It's a mystery. That's a statement if you not understand me. I don't understand how questions work. I don't understand how questions work. I don't say how the points work. I don't get it. Every week I change for driving. I'm like, oh, they look like a good weekend.

So few points. I'd also like, I haven't changed my line at once. Have you not? Intentionally. But every time I go and I'm like, that seems all right still. I put in Norris and Holkenberg this weekend. So thank God for my three times chips, whatever on...

I also put in Holkenberg. Oh, Ricky. I also have Holkenberg. Oh, man. Let's down. Get it together. All right. Let's play true or false.

So this game, fortunately, folks, really easy to understand this one. So there's six questions overall. I'll ask the guys in turn, is it true or is it false? If they get it right, they get a point. if they don't get it right, guess what? They don't get a point. That's really all there is to this one. Wow.

So since Sam, you were expected to answer all six, you only have to do three now, but which number would you like first? I love number one, please. Okay, number one. True or false? The reason Alex Albon races with the number 23 is because he's a fan of Valentino Rossi.

now folks obviously I wasn't meant to be here and this was intending to embarrass me entirely and it's a whole game of 50-50s if you haven't clucked onto this and I don't know so I'm going to go with true I've taken three away from you son

it is true it's a good start from Sam so this is a weird one though so he's number 46 isn't he it's not number 23 he's not number 23 Valentina Rossi's number is number 46 is it because it's half of 46

it's half of 46 which would make sense if the 46 was taken. I agree. It's not. It's not. I don't know why, but it is true. So Sam is on the board. One nothing.

Harry, what number would you like? Number four, please. Number four. Jack Brabham. Oh, no. You know Brabham. You answer Brabham all the time. Jack Brabham.

Well, Jack Brabham, of course, had his own team called Brabham. Brabham. But before deciding on the team name, Jack Brabham nearly called his own team Fast Cars. Oh, I mean, shut up. This is made to mug me off entirely.

Shut up. No, Fawms. You sure? Yes. Yes. That was entirely going to throw me off that one. It comes Jack Brabham in fast cars. Come on.

Yeah, all right. Trace Chattman writing the theme song. I'd have been interested, Sam, would you have also said false? I mean, I wouldn't have debated it more than Harry, but I probably would have gone false. Fair enough. The safe play. Sam, back to you. What number would you like?

Number six, please. Number six. The longest track in F1 history was over 25 kilometres long, true or false? Oh, that's the Tiger Florian. and we only race there once. I'm going to say true. It is true. So the 1957 Pescara Grand Prix,

the only time we ever race there, only two drivers were below 10 minutes on their quality lap. That's a great time. Well done, lads. Few. And I didn't write this down, but if my memory serves me correctly, just to throw another plug in there,

I believe those two drivers were, one Manuel Fangio, Stirling Marcy, you can hear more about on a Patreon episode coming to you very soon. Ooh, history topics. Apologies if one of them wasn't actually those drivers to whoever actually went there. So we're at 2-1. No issues at all so far. Back to you, Harry.

You've got two, three and five available to you. Five, please. Number five. Alan Jones won the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix. but the organisers didn't have the Australian National Anthem so instead they played Happy Birthday or False It's a very 1970s

F1 thing to happen I'm so mugging me off with this I've got to go with true because it's just funny That one is true No way! It's happened I'm going to say false obviously Why did they play happy birthday?

I don't know They didn't have the Australian National lamp at them. So they thought, what's the next best thing? Happy birthday. Not like he's a jolly good fellow or anything like that. No. Happy birthday. That was his first win as well, I think. Oh, me. That's great.

Poor Adam. It's not even like, it's not an obscure national anthem. Like, there were plenty of Australian drivers throughout the 60s and 70s. They just thought, Australia not very good. They're not going to win. Maybe it's like, maybe they were just jealous because Australia sounds too much

like Austria. So they're like, oh, we're not playing that ashlam. Like a bigger Austria. Yes. That's exactly it. Yeah. I can't believe it. No errors.

Too all. So it's going to come down to the deciding questions. We've got number two and number three. Sam, what would you like? I'll have number two, please. Number three, my lord. Too late. You're too late.

Number two. Luigi Fagioly. Won an F1 race. Right. So we're talking 1950s after. and was born in the 1800s, true or false? What year? What year was he supposedly weird?

I'm so confused. So we're talking, the Formula One World Championship started in 1950, so we're not talking about any, like, anything before that. Luigi Fageli won an F1 race, and he was born in the 1890s, true or false?

Oh, no. Oh, I know how old Chirong is, but I don't know how old he is. I'm going to say false. It's true. Oh, my brain was like, was he 83 or something? Was he boy like 1874? Yeah, I only would have said true then because Ben originally said 1800s and then said 1890s, which makes me...

Well, I think it was, I mean, it was never going to be the 1880s, right? I know, I know. I was very confused. Yeah, so I think he was actually a year old. than Louis Chiron. So I think Chiron was born in 1899 and Fajoli was born in 98, but he won in 1951,

he won a race and he's the oldest drivers who have ever won a race at the age of 52 or 53. I even knew that as well. What a plonker. So, Harry, it's all come down to you. 1.50-50 to decide it all. Number three, please.

No problem at all. Number three. Is this the worst one, I feel like it is? Mr. Blobby. Oh, come on. Oh, God. Ben, can't even keep a straight face. I know.

We're all right on this one. The term chicane is actually a Japanese word that roughly translates to squeaky detour. True or false? Stop punching the mic. Squeaky detour.

False. I wish it was true. But it isn't. That was false. which means Harry has cleaned up. Sam only made one mistake, but it was enough. Three, two, to Harry. I'm impressed.

You did that well, Sam. On 50-50, so we've been honest. Oh, yeah, I mean, we knew one was coming to be wrong, wasn't it? But I would have liked squeaky chican because I know that that word comes from the word chicanery. So it's one of the few that I actually know the definition of. But, hey, that's life, in it?

Life is like a chican. I'm going to go around it. All that long. Yeah, all that. Life is a shirkane. Yeah, please don't sue us. Cars. I don't remember who actually did it.

Anyway, that's enough of this stupid podcast. Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. Folks, thanks for listening. Let us know what your thoughts are on the topic. So you could tell us those on our social media at El Breaking on Twitter or the Late Breaking F1 podcast on Instagram or TikTok because we are down with the kids. Of course, we'd love to hear more from you as well. So make sure you go to the link and join in the Discord

where you can chat to over 1,800 people talking F-1 and other topics every single day. And if you want more content, because you're absolutely gagging for it. Oh, my. And you can get on to Patreon. No. You get two extra episodes, extras, a month.

Or you get beer with breaking on the top tier and you get a little birthday shout-out, much like our Australian friend back in the 70s. Happy birthday. you. Thanks for listening, folks. It's been lovely to chat here as always. And remember, Sunday's episode, it's just me and Harry.

So that's going to be chaos. Well, you say, remember, we hadn't even announced that. That is an exclusive. Here we go, folks. It's going to be a nightmare. Anyway, in the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Bradshaw.

And remember, keep breaking late. What is our highway. I'll be back next week, I promise. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.