The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Is Red Bull's RADICAL design shift a game changer?!

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

The winter break is officially over and cars are back on track! In this episode, the LB boys share what they would like to see from each team early this season. They also discuss Red Bull's radically different sidepod design, and Alonso blasting pre-season testing as 'unfair'. They finish with a game of F1: Higher or Lower... FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes, historic race reviews & more! JOIN our Discord community JOIN our F1 Fantasy League: Link to SIGN UP & create your team Link to JOIN our league (join code: C3PHEQHPU04) BUY our Merch 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 Ead, Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. Unbelievably here on this Wednesday, Sam, cars going around a track. It's good in it? Yeah, the old brum, brum, the old beep beep. It's good to see them.

motoring around Bahrain. Normality is resumed. I have my Wednesday pizza for dinner. There were race cars on a racetrack. And we're all having a grand old time. So, yeah. Also, they all look like they're about to drive through Mad Max Fury Road today with the amount of spikes and metal hanging off those cars.

So lovely to see. Let's hope that, also love that the floviz fix the Alpine livery, which is nice. I'd like to see a lot more blue on that one. So big up flow viz. you're the goat of car painting. So yeah, good to see. Harry, did you watch any, or were you too busy being a working boy?

Has been a working boy, but I did enjoy turning my Twitter on the end of the day and seeing Max Verstappen being 1.1 clear of literally anyone else. So that's good times. Good times. Sadness. Sadness. Many sad noises.

You say about flovers. I like to think that Steak actually didn't realize until they got to the track that it's not going to work for them. So they had to pop out to the local, you know, Bahrain B and Q and just pick up, pick up whatever color they ended up using. I think they might have been more prepared, but you never know.

We're going to be talking about testing a little bit more on, probably on Sunday's episode, when we have three days worth of Verstappen being quick rather than just one. So we'll get to that at that point. But on today's episode, a little bit about the Red Bull 2020, for design. Fernando Alonzo thinking that just three days of testing is unfair, but we're going to

start with this, which is one thing that we would like to see from each team to start off this season. So it could be something that we need to see from the next couple of days of testing, could be something from the first couple of races of the season, could be something completely off track if we want to. So we've got quite a bit of flexibility with what we can say on this one. So we'll just go through in championship order. Sam starts us off. What do you, need to see from Red Bull early in the season other than being 1.1 seconds faster than everyone has today. I reckon it's just got to be forget the rest of the early season, just all of season, 24 race wings, baby. What more can they really accomplish after last year? I don't know,

I guess being a little bit more open with Sergio Perez. And if he's in a position to win races if he's doing well. Put down a little bit over Maxi Verstap. We all know he's one of the greatest civil time now. He's definitely put himself in that conversation. There's every chance that he goes on to the fourth title, the end of this season. But we've already heard some of the language between Verstapp and Perez about how, you know, remember in Brazil a couple years ago when Perez was trying to pick up positions right

at the end of the season and Max quite aggressively over the microphone, say, you know, don't ask me to do that. I spoke you already. And I won't have that conversation. I'd like to see a little bit more team play from Red Bull. But hey, Max is their goat. Max is their champion and I respect it. But yeah, I mean, just more of what you were doing, really,

because you weren't really doing too much wrong last season, were they, in terms of performance? Kind of smashing it. Yeah, there's a fair point. They were quite good last year. Harry, what do you need to see from Red Bull early in this season? Yeah, I've written down more of the same, which is kind of what Sam just said.

change nothing. I even the Perez stuff like because what like so they literally they won almost every race

bar one last year so why do you need yeah I just do not do absolutely nothing different and be the same because I mean I don't personally want that

obviously because we want a close season but from their point of view yeah more of the same they can't really can't really improve too much on last year because as you say, they were quite good at the F1. I've gone for a sign they were right on this concept. And we'll get onto that as a separate topic a little bit later on.

So I won't go into too much depth for this point. But we do know that in terms of the side pod design, they have gone very radically different from what they had last year, which, as you say, if they're a team that are looking to do more of the same, is a bit of an inherent risk, I guess you could call it. So I feel like they need some sort of sign early on in the season just to indicate that actually, yes, Adrian Newey is still the goat and they were right to go in this different direction. You could argue they might already have that with their testing lap today.

I appreciate it is testing and all the caveats that go with it. But it's a pretty good starting point. So if they can have some form of whether it's qualifying or the race next week that can also indicate that they've gone the right direction with this, I think that will make them very happy indeed. I know we're getting on to this, but good Lord, it's perhaps one of the, it's one of the funniest things Red Bull have done.

Yeah, we're going to have a comedy show later on. I'm saving some, we've got some good material, folks. Oh, dear. What do you need to see from Mercedes, Sam? Listen to your drivers, Mercedes. Be more proactive and listen to your drivers. Both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have, regularly given feedback, giving

all this out of the car, and I think that Mercedes across the last couple of seasons have gone under the radar a little bit with their strategic development, with their pit stop prowess, and the way that they move the car forward, which is ironic because Lewis Hamilton actually wanted to sit himself further backwards in the car.

But it feels like your drivers know what they're talking about, on track and off track. You've got a seven-time champion, he's got the most wind of all time. And George Russell, pretty darn talented as well, if you haven't noticed. So where a driver is giving you, feedback constantly and you're not listening to it and you're on the back foot for strategy and your calls seem to be later than everyone else is around you and it is costing them a little

bit here and there I just think they need to be more on the ball and it's something that Red Bull have always done fantastically well not and they got fantastic at everything at the moment but when we did have Mercedes dominance and even when it was you know 2017-2018 and Ferrari were the closest to Mercedes we had that fantastic fight between Vettel and Hamilton the way that Red Bull stole a few wings throughout a season, a lot of the time was by doing something different, was by being proactive, was by, you know, jumping the gun and going, you know what, it might not work. But most of the time, because they use their incredibly large brains that they've all got, it did work. And I feel like Mercedes have fallen short the last two or three seasons.

And I do think their dominance covered up for that lack of proactiveness over the last decade or so. So I need to be more in the front foot. I can't be seeing the last of the time. four teams to make a pit stop or something because we don't know if it'll work every single race. They need to be more proactive. Initially, my answer on this was going to be because we're looking at early in the season, what we need to see, I was going to

say just a Bahrain Grand Prix that doesn't end with an apology letter. That would be a good step in the right direction. But instead, I've gone for, they need to see that George Russell can lead this team because ultimately Lewis Hamilton is going to be gone by the end of this season. And even though

George Russell, George is not Lewis Hamilton, both on track and off track right now. But that's okay. I feel like the worst thing George Russell can do is try and emulate him completely at this stage in his career. It's not going to happen. But I do think, and he is already showing this for the most part, but he just needs to continue to show that he is, he can be that number one driver. And whoever they put alongside him, they have the confidence that the Russell is that continual piece. Like, he's the guy who's staying on from, let's call it the previous regime. You know, off track, I think George Russell's very well spoken.

He's a good ambassador for the team. Again, he might not have the character and personality of Lewis Hamilton, but who does. You know, he does great work with the Grand Prix Drivers Association as well. And on track, I think he just needs to recover a little bit from what happened last year. So that's what I'd like to see from Mercedes, specifically looking at George Russell, can he lead this team? What do you think, Harry?

Yeah, to be fair, I agree with that. I think that's important for George this year. I've just gone for a problem that's not so much last year, although it did, but the past couple of these plagued Mercedes, which is just be consistent. They've not had a car, and again, a caveat last year was definitely better than 2022. But even then there were still some wildly random, races where they just were nowhere, Brazil springs to mind where they were just awful.

Just consistency, because even if they obviously got a job to do to catch up to Red Bull, but they, Red Bull have been so, as you've already mentioned, Sam, even when they weren't winning, they've been so good at the, you know, the calls in strategy and things like that. So it's not just a pace in the car consistency, it's just consistency in general that we need to see, we need to see from them early doors. Just to remind everyone, including all three of us, this next team, we can only name one thing, even though the temptation might be to name about 135. Ferrari, what is one thing, Sam, that you'd like to see from them early in this season?

Well, following enough, I'm going to steal Harry Eag's answer for Mercedes and bring up consistency. And that is not to be consistently last when it comes to pit stop strategy or consistently poor where it comes to understanding your own calls or to be consistently bad at communication. But that is that the car, same as Mercedes, we regularly had instances across the Ferrari season where they would be fantastic and they would almost be fighting with Red Bull

at the very front for a long of the race. And you saw it with LeClaire's qualifying efforts. However, one lap, they were fantastically quick back-oos, for instance, to mind as an early example. And yet, we'll get to certain races and you look at Zanvort, for example, where Charlotte Clerk could barely get himself into the points. They didn't finish in the points.

He was overtaken by Liam Lawson come at his first Grand Prix where he was thrown into the race. And science, even when he was on his good run in that Grand Prix, wasn't brilliant because the car was so topsy-turvy. So Ferrari need to kickstart this campaign with a sense of confidence in themselves

and their ability and just develop a level of consistency. The Ferrari historically have been able to deliver before. mean that in faith in their own ideas, faith in their own strategy calls, faith in what their drivers can do. And, you know, that is from the very top down to the very bottom. They just need to be more calm, more consistent. And I do think that that team can rise to some form of excellency, but they just, I think they doubt themselves a lot and they panic. So for Ferrari, just be consistent. Think about it, deliver it, accept it. Don't do what you've done the last couple of years, which just make yourself look like Muppets.

And you think I have a good start with that social media post where you put that poetry and motion video up and then you didn't even change the front left tire properly. Yeah, it is, but then your poor admin took the absolute punishment for saying that they chose the wrong clip. I mean, I respect it. But at the same time, come on. Come on, now, Ferrari. So, yeah, be more consistent.

Consistently good. What do you think, Harry? What do you need to see from Ferrari? Well, first day, I think Sam's has come up with a new slogan for Deliveroo, which is think about it, deliver it, accept it. That's brilliant. Did somebody say late, corporate.

But for Ferrari, I've written down do a race quick more than once a season. Nice. Good shout. Be quick from the start, not in round 18

or whatever Singapore was. And I guess you can maybe throw in Austria because randomly they're good there for some reason. Yeah, just be good at races early doors, like from the start, be quick at races and not just

Charles LeCler being a god in qualifying or Carlos Leicester being a tactical genius in a race in Singapore. So we need to see that from them because, you know, we're speaking about it before the pole to win conversion for LeClau is absolutely abysmal. It shouldn't be that way.

And they need a race car. They need a good race car. And I think if we, it will be evident early on if that isn't the case again. So yes, do a race quick more than once Ferrari, please. Do you need to see at least one podium from them in the first two races, would you say? Yeah, I think if they're going to have any sort of good season, and I don't know if that means title contenders, but any sort of decent season,

they've got to be up there. I know, to be honest, last year, in Bahrain, they weren't, they were all right. LeClau was probably on for P3, wasn't he, but broke down. but it needs to be at least that, and obviously not the breaking down part, but it needs to be at least that, I think, for the first couple of races, but ideally more.

And hopefully for their sake, closer to Red Bull, I guess, because it would have been a P3, would be a very distant P3. Miles away. Yeah. Yeah. I've simply gone with,

I need to see something that's on the Ferrari. Just something that doesn't look like it would come from them. So I think big old Freddie Vass, Jungle is Vassive. He got a bit of a pass last season because it's early on in his tenure. And I think that was fair. But that's not going to be the case in 2024.

And whilst he's been adamant that 2024 is not just a transitional year for them. Naturally, Lewis Hamilton coming in in 2025, it could be perceived that way. He's been adamant that that's not the case. But I think at least in some respects, he needs to make sure that team is firing for when Hamilton comes in. He needs to make sure that all of these niggles and gremlins, they're just sorted out before he even gets there. So, you know, whether it's beating Red Bull on a strategic decision,

whether it's beating someone out of the pits, I don't know exactly what it is. It's less about performance for me. It's more about strategy. It's more about the nuts and bolts of pit stops, that sort of thing. Because, again, once Lewis Hamilton, is there. You are going to want that to be thriving on the level of a Red Bull.

So yeah, that's what I've gone for. Macassam. Maca Sam. Who's that? What's that? Oh, Maca Sam. Maca Sam. Yeah, McLaren, I wrote down here that they should keep the underdog spirit. They should keep punching up. They should keep trying to beat the class above them. And I think that even if they kickstart this student, and let's say they're really, Red Bull's closest challenges. Let's say that they finish, I don't know, 2-4 and Bostappen and Perez are a one-13. They cannot grow complacent. They cannot come to think,

oh, we're all right. They need to maintain this attitude of, we've got a, we're coming from behind and we've got to reach up and we've got to, we've got a wing from the back here. Because, again, 17th of DNA for a year ago, pretty much two weeks time, a week's time, sorry, they've, got to show that they have transition. They want that. I think Stella will want that. And they just need to make sure that

that might be in front of them or Red Bull might show that the dumps they're making, the strides they're making on and they are able to be those around them now. So no matter where they are, I want them to continue with this fighting spirit. I don't want to hear them grow complacent at the start the whole Oh, we don't know if I'm going to be very good this weekend.

weekend. No, I don't want it. I want this Mr. Marketing. We're here to stay, attitude to continue from McLaren. Yeah, McLaren was one of the easier ones for me because what do I want to see from them early in the year, just what they didn't do last year, which is be rubbish early on and eventually get there by Austria. So I've said I'd like to see them start the year in Bahrain as sort of the third quickest team or better than that. I feel like at that point, they've got a springboard for the rest of the season. So if they can, continue to improve in the same way that they did the last couple of years, that's far better. I mean, it's easy to forget last year's testing and the year before testing was a disaster for

McLaren. So the fact that they are there and it seems to be going okay through day one, that's already a good start. But yeah, I just want to see them come out the gates quicker than they have done in previous years. What do you think, Harry? Yeah, mine's pretty much exactly the same. I've written down not 17th in a DNF, which obviously sounds like. referenced. Which translation is, yeah, come out the gates well for once, McLaren. And as you say, Ben, they look fairly promising from day one. I think Lando had some issue earlier on, early doors, but, you know, it's testing.

But yeah, just need to be there or there about in race, or not at the back. Okay, last team before we take our first break and then we'll return for the bottom five in the championship afterwards. Let's go to Aston Martin, Sam. I noted down here firing on all cylinders, and this is a challenge more for Lance stroll than it is for Fernando Alonso. Lance's boy can't be sitting on the coattails

of a world champion anymore, and I know that he's never really going to be at risk of losing a seat, but if Ashton Martin wants to kick on, if they want to be considering as a big dog now, and they've invested a lot, the infrastructure is growing, the factory is, you know, state of the art, and the car is improving, and the back, team that they've got and, you know, the leadership staff they've developed is really top

notch. It can rival up though at the best, I think. But Lance Stroll is the link-phing. He's the weak point. He's what you attack if you want to find a weakness. And he needs to turn that around. And now that doesn't mean that I'm saying that Lance Troll needs to come out the gates and beat Fernando Alonso every single Grand Prix.

But if Fernando Alonso is finishing fourth, Lance Stroll more often than not needs to be fifth place, five, six seconds behind him. He needs to pull his weight now. otherwise, Ashton Martin will always be a one-horse show and they will always be only scoring points on one side of the garage and you'll never get to gaining a world championship or even close to winning one if, you know, the other side of the garage doesn't do anything.

So far all cylinders, Lank Stroll, got a few sentence from you, buddy. Don't let the side down. Pull your way. Come on, son. Yeah, I understand the point on that. The reason I haven't gone down that path is quite simply because I don't think it's achievable.

I think at this point I've... he's been in the sports since 2017. Like, it's been a long time. I just, if it was there, we'd have seen it by now. And whilst I think he can get a little bit closer to Fernando Alonzo, I don't think more than that is achievable, which is why I've gone in a different direction to something I think can happen, which is more on the team, actually,

it's more on Aston Martin and proving themselves to Fernando Alonzo early doors, because Alonzo's not going to, if there's one thing Alonzo's not known for, it's patience. he's not going to sit around for the entire season, see what happens, and then hopefully at the end of the year, if he wants to move, he might call up Toto Wolf. If this car isn't very good after a couple of races, Aston minor probably in trouble.

Fernando Alonzo, don't wait for no one. So I'd like to see Aston Martin prove themselves. They've got, you know, facilities-wise, they're making good strides there. I just feel they need to show that the end of last year was a blip, rather than the start of a slump, and just prove to Fernando Alonzo that we are the right team for you to, you know,

chase that third world championship. What direction have you gone in, Harry? Again, fairly similar, but it's repeat early 2023 pace, performance form, whatever I want to call it. Because you're at the end of last year, I know you got the podium in Brazil,

but I think that was more Alonzo than the car. Although Lance wasn't too bad that race. But anyway, the performance at the end of the year was nowhere near where they were at the start. And obviously there was problems with the way they developed the car and that's a different issue. But for the beginning of the season, they need to be back where they were at the start last year.

I think it would be a tougher job because we've already mentioned we think McLaren are going to be in the mix. Ferrari and Mercedes will be there, obviously, Red Bull, too. So it's going to be a tougher job. But they have to at least be in that mix because at the end of last year they weren't. I think with Ashton, they just need to be a little bit more independent with their development of their car and not look to someone like Red Bull for inspiration, but rather, you know, they made the mistake of their development last time.

They need to have some belief. And I think, it sounds silly, make the right call in their own development and try not to learn off of the other teams in front of them so much. Because I think there's only so much you could do by borrowing ideas from the teams above you. Sam's development advice, make the right decision. That is why I am going to get hired by F-1. Write that one down for downfall. Make the right call, folks. Listen to this podcast.

Okay, well, we're looking to five other teams who will also be making the right calls or they will be hoping at least. Right after this break. Okay, again, same as the Ferrari one. There's only one thing we can say here. Not 135. Alpine.

Harry, what do you think? I've written not being slow. Good. That might be as good as made the right call. Yeah, that's what you're saying. If you put those two together, you've got a Formula One team. I mean, am I wrong? No.

No. No. Yeah, the Alpine, again, there are a multitude of things that were wrong last year. But overall, there was just, the overall pace of the car. And there were, obviously, there were flashes of good pace,

Monaco, which was more rock and I think than the car. And then obviously you had Zandvoort with Ghazdi, again, it was strategic and Ghazdi being very good. But the overall pace, despite all the other issues they had, like crashing into each other,

no team members, et cetera, et cetera. Otmar's crash. The main one was that they had no real, real performance. And that's always going to, be a, you can fix all those other problems. But if your car's still slow, then your car still slow. So that, for me, is where they, if it's, if they, first few races in the cars, again, just

not great, then even, and especially, as we've already mentioned before, with this new development or design or direction they've gone for, um, then, uh, going to be a tough year. to be honest, I don't really care because I'm still absolutely furious at their livery. I don't care what they do. You can't, no, don't call it a livery. Stickers. Don't put down other liveries

by calling it a livery. Doesn't deserve to be a livery. Bloody hell. Stickers. That's all it is. It's just a re. Nothing alive about it. It's not the complete thing, is it?

Just a re. Re. Yeah, I, based on the last last point you made there, Harry, I've also gone the direction of their concept. I've just said their aggressive concept needs to have legs because, look, or wheels.

Oh, no, wheels is too far. As long as it's got legs. Even if, like, this season ends up horrible, and it's awful, if it leads to something okay next year, I feel like that's better than them just finishing sixth again. Like, I would rather, and I would hope they would rather as well

have like a ninth place finish this season if it would lead to a second place finish last next year, rather than just back to back sixth place finishes. They've just been stuck in, again, it's the fish and a rice game.

They're just stuck between fourth and sixth and they cannot make their way up. So if it does take this aggressive concept a year to be properly embedded, so be it. So be it. I mean, you would take that at this point. it seems unlikely that they would get that far into next year and finish second.

But Aston Martin proved that two-year turnarounds can happen. So yeah, I've just hopefully they can see something early in this year that indicates they've gone the right direction with that. What do you think about Alpine, Sam? Look, folks, they all need to pile into the Alpine, whatever version model it is, not the race car, the road car that they're constantly trying to advertise. Get as many in there as you can. And you're put along down the motorway to a B&Q or a Home Depot, if you're one of our lovely American list, because I'm sure.

And you need to go into the shop and ask the nice person behind the till, can we have a trawl or whatever they're called, a trowl? Can we have some cement, please? And then we're going to take it back to Engstone, right? And we're going to whip up some cement and get the trow. And we're going to start laying some foundations. And that's what they need to do at the start of this year. They need to work together as a team and lay the foundations. This is a pure James Vowles moment.

Take a leaf out of that man's book. Take the whole book, frankly Alpine, because you need it. And read it cover to cover and then read it again. Because you need to start building slowly. You need to work out a formula with that car that you're happy with. And you need to build on it properly. From the bottom up and from the top down, you need to have everyone working together.

You need a cohesive team, a scene that's all driven by the same goal that is determined to win in Formula One and that's what the start of this season needs to be. I do not expect them to come out the gates and hope to win. If I hear them talking about hoping to win this year, you're delusional.

You've lost it. You've gone do lally. What you need to do is build a stroke. No, Ben, I don't see you shaking your head. I want to see, not let them war mode. I want to see. Come on. Let him cohesion mode.

And I want to see you. working together and having a nice time and taking your time to be successful. Plan for 2026. I don't care what you do. Build it up slowly and make it work. You know what? Make the right calls.

That's what you should do, Alping. I was worried that the season was going to be over by a time that analogy finished. That was extensive. Mate, we've got 24 races. Okay, we wouldn't even be halfway through. Bonus one for Alpine. Get a livery.

Be better at liverys. Come on. Good one, guys. On to, I mean, you reference James Vowes in that, and we move on to Williams next. What have you got for them, Sam? Well, that's a thing. It was always the next step on from Alpine. And that is don't dwell too much on the results.

I don't think that Alpine need to sit there. Build the first floor. What did you say? Build the first floor. On your foundations. Yes. Sorry, folks. I forgot my own analogy.

Of course, we need to now put in the first set of stairs. and that's what James Vows has been doing over the winter break. No, but seriously, it's just, you know, continue to take those baby steps forward. And I think, you know, review the first five or six races, but don't get bogged down in them. Things can go wrong. It's the bigger picture.

And again, Williams aren't going to be picking up podiums here. If they can see that they make a little set forward and the team are happy and the development's going in the right way, Williams are in a solid place. And they're aiming for two, three years down the road. They're not aiming for two or three races down the road. And I think for where Williams were, that's the right way to do it. So I'd like to see Logan Sargent, more comfortable, more confident.

I'd like to see Alex out on kickoff from where it was last season. But I expect just more of the same, gentle, slow, solid progression from Williams as a team that wants to work together and build together. What have you got, Harry? Yeah, I think continued improvement and consolidation of where they were last year because I think Williams exceeded expectations. last year in terms of where they finish in the championship. But it doesn't mean they have to, I say continue improvement. I think that could mean they could still finish seventh and have a great season. But they just need to show that they can keep doing it.

And last year wasn't like a flash in the pan. And again, in James Vals, we trust Daddy Vals. But I truly believe that there's such a long-term goal there. Sam's already referenced that LP need to do. that, yeah, they're not concerned about going for gold right this second. And I think that's what we need to see from them earlier on the season, is just build on what you built. Build the stairs.

Sam summed it up, build the stairs. Build those stairs. Build those stairs. Basically, build those stairs. This season of F-1 is G-I-S-O-S-S-S. No, it's not. Not talking about that, man. Oh, I just remember she presents DIYS.

We're not doing that. We could do DIYS-A-S, which is my initials, and it's a whole different show. Honestly, we are 30 minutes since this episode. We've already had a DIYS-OS reference, and not one, but two B-N-Q references. Like, what is going on? Respect being cute.

Great plate, great shop. I love being cute. Fair, completely fair. I think the direction you've gone with this is completely valid. I've decided to go down in different part. I've gone a bit more driver-specific with this and said, Logan Sargent just needs to deliver a wow performance.

And I mean a wow performance in a good way rather than, wow, that was bad. I don't know. It doesn't really matter what it is, whether it's a Q3 outing or whether it's beating Alex Albin in a Grand Prix. We just need to see something that demonstrates his potential because in the nicest way possible to Logan Sargent, the reason he has a seat this year is not because of, of what he is, it's more about he's got the seat because of what he could be.

Like, he's not in that seat based on his current level of performance, right? He's just there based on we think he could get to a certain point. Needs to show it. So I'd just like to see something a little, something early on that just, I don't know, makes me get out of my seat. Show us your performances. Nice. Exactly. Minardi, what we got for them, Harry?

I said, be more Mexico. Be more me. Oh, okay. No, that makes sense. Sure. And what I mean by that, obviously, I have to explain, is just more of that form, as Ben just smashes his mic,

more of that. Oh, that's really hard. James picks a fight with the wrong microphone. Ben's been being being up his own microphone. God. Oh, man. All right, Ben. You have a minute, mate.

Yeah, now what I mean is more of that form that they showed it in Mexico, obviously was quite a stand-up performance, you know, especially for Ricardo, but that form they picked up towards the back end of last year. I mean, truly, truly the back end of last year. They need to build on that early on. They can't come out the gates in Bahrain and Saudi and be back where they were at the start of last year, which I don't think they will. but yeah, if they are, then it's a disaster. So, yeah, be more Mexico. Yeah, I think that's completely fair. Encouraging signs based on what we saw today from,

I'm not going to call them R.B. We're still going to keep calling the Menardi folks. It's going to stay. Yeah, I think last year's issue outside of the Mexican performance being a bit rare, is that for whatever reason, they could not. not string a performance, like both drivers could not perform well on the same weekend. Like, it just could not happen. So obviously, Sonoda had a few good performances early in the season, not that they

resulted in a lot of points, but he had quite a few good performances early in the season, but of course, Nick DeVries just wasn't there. Liam Lawson then had some good performances when he filled in, but Sonoda just couldn't start a race when Liam Lawson was there. Ricardo had that P7 in Mexico, but Sonoda wasn't in the points. Snowda had P8 in Abu Dhabi and in Austin, but in both of those occasions, Ricardo wasn't in the points. So I've quite simply gone double points finish. I'd like to see from one of the first few races, just a sign that both of their drivers can perform on the same weekend.

Because apart from HAS, which don't really count because they're not really an F1 team, all of the other teams did have a double points finish last year, apart from Menardi. So, yeah, that's what I've gone for, double points finish. What do you think, Sam? Live up to the hype. It's as basic as that. You come out of the season and all through the winter break.

You've got Ricardo saying that he wants top five finishes. You've got the execs of all of Red Bull and of V-Cab slash Menardish, just Toro Rosso slash Alpha Tauri, saying, you know, we're going to be much more aligned with Red Bull. And if the testing figures,

which, you know, that's not really into them too much, but, you know, are true, are to be believed, then Red Bull have got a monster of a car, which is, I think, may be wrong to use a right. energy drink to discuss them.

But V-Carb, if you are going to be closer to RB, I want to see you live up to the hype. So the performance is double points for the years. Let's see the honeybeck turn up. Let's see, Yuki, it is best. I expect you to be a competitive outfit and to be giving the likes of Ashton Martin, McClaren, Ferrari, a run for their money.

So don't let me down. I don't want to be disappointed. I've got steak written down next, but I still don't exactly know what we're calling them because on every official, I don't know, F1 piece of communication, it's kick salber. Ted Kravitz said today, I'm just calling them Salba. So I don't know what we're calling them,

but whatever their name is, Harry, what have you got for them? I mean, if Ted says Salba, I'm saying Salba. because to be fair he said salber when they were out for a mayor so yeah valid a point um i have put try and find the the early 2022 form they had uh it's still lost not sure where it's gone keep trying to find it honestly there's a huge reward if you do find it uh page for by drake himself um but yeah i think just They've just seemed lost in the past almost two years now, but like 18 months, I guess,

about where that car sits. So, yeah, just regain some of that. Again, I'm not saying I need to go and start winning races, but just be somewhere in, even if it's a lower end of the top 10, because, yeah, if they come out this year and it's bad, I mean, blech. I mean, I don't care again, don't care that much, because it's a terrible livery and a terrible name.

But still, for their sake, they should be aiming for that at the very least. The reason I haven't got performance-based when it comes to this team is, you're right, in 2022 they started pretty well. They were pretty good at Bahrain last year. Botas, I think, finished eighth. He scored solid points at Bahrain.

And Joe Guan Yu wasn't that far behind either. Of course, you know, he was, his finishing position was compromised thanks to his masterful taking the fastest lap point away from Alpine, which, whew, good thing they did that. But yeah, I, so I've gone away from that because even if they do well at Bahrain,

they might just do what they did the last two seasons and been rubbish the rest of the year. So I've just gone, and it's super vague. They just need to assess their 2025 options because as far as I'm concerned, when Audi come on board in 2026, this can't be the lineup. up. No disrespect to either party. BOTAS, I still think, has something to give F1. I think Zhoguan Yu has slightly exceeded what I thought he'd amount to in Formula One terms. But even so, that is not a lineup. I think Audi can go with in 26. And if you want to make changes, it makes sense to do it for 2025 to give that transitional year, that sort of focus. So,

again, I don't expect anything concrete decisions to be made this early on in the season, but I would at least like to see them assessing those options. What, you got further this team, son? Three words. No, four words. It's good. I'm smart. SMRT. Show me the marketing. Do you say show me? Yeah, no, well, yes, I definitely did say, show me the marketing. What a clever pun that I definitely just came up with.

Good. Between you and me, listeners. Yeah, show me the marketing. I think, you know, I've written you off as a threat on track. I'm sorry. it's not going to be very good. But you could have a spectacular two-year run in Formula One. You could be something that we remember as fun, as different, as interesting. Currently, your name doesn't work.

And legally, it doesn't work to the point where on all of the publications I've seen about you testing, you'll just call Salba, because I believe in Bahrain is one of the tracks that your name's illegaling. So it's a good start to the season. So you need to come up with something fun. Let's stop the children running the social media page. Let's do something new there as well. You've got big money behind you. And let's face it, it's a brand exercise.

You are here to be an exposed brand to a new market that might enjoy whatever activities your branding for sit at the totes. I'm not going to get them any free press. But show it to me. I want to see something wow and interesting and fun and cool because we all know that realistically come the end of race one, you're probably going to be 60. 18th. I have no faith that you'll be above that. So, wow me off the track if you're going to be here. Do something cool and exciting.

So for Salba, show me the marketing. And we've reached this point in the segment, folks. It was always coming and it was always going to be last because they love nothing more than being last. I'm just going to sit back. Sam, what I asked me to show you. I've got one word for house. It actually is one word. Try? Just try? Like, what have you been doing? Not trying, apparently. The fact that you, we've already had the hilarious conversation,

the fact that you stops your own progression to focus on a short update, which gave you nothing for the next year, which makes no logical sense to anyone other than you, is so funny. Just don't be last. Just don't be, be positive, make concise and forward-thinking decisions, send Gene Haas off to like a meeting greet and allow him to get some more friends. He might not like him.

Ah, he's not going to do that. But he might like someone and he might go, you can join the team. And he might be brilliant. He doesn't do that. I don't know. Arranger dinner. Oh, God, the camera going to go.

With my fury. Look, I don't know what to say about Haas. Just don't be crap. Please, okay? I'm not going to be technical about it, but find yourself a real identity. Don't be fraudulent. Don't be crap.

It's as simple as that. I've gone with finish further ahead than where you started. Because even if, even if they qualify 16th and they finish 14th, let's say, I'll take it. If it's early in the season, I'll take that. Because they at least shows that they are going forward in races, because that's their biggest problem is that clearly qualifying wise last year, they could get the job done.

They could make Q3 performances. I can't remember the last time, or indeed if there's ever been a time where a team has been able to make Q3 as frequently as HAST did and have yet been so bad. It doesn't quite make sense how spectacularly different their qualifying pace was to their race pace. So, yeah, quite simply put, qualifying means nothing. You know, you're not getting points for it. just make some forward progress in a race.

It doesn't even have to result in points early on in the season because that will be enough of an incentive, enough motivation to kick on from there. Harry, what have you got for Hass to round us off? I said that they need to know how the tyres work. They're trying, mate. They're trying. I know.

Well, there was a great tweet the other day that apparently Harsman worried about pacing testing, just they wanted to know how the tyres work. They've been in F1 since 2016. So I go on the car and that's what the car uses to be on the road. I mean, I know it's obviously funny to say they don't know how tires work, but in all seriousness, learn how the bloody tires work because it's been there, as you've just pointed out, Ben,

they could qualify really well last year because they could get the most out of the tires over a one lap, but in the race, absolute horse manure. They just need to work that out. And it's not an isolated 20, 23, problem. They've had this problem for a long time. Sort it out. So come out the, come out the gates this year with, you know how the tides are going to work and don't spend the rest of the year trying

to work it out. So, oh, huss. Good Lord. It's like making a pizza without knowing how the dough works, isn't it? It's like they put all the toppings on like a bit of wood and when this doesn't taste very good. Yeah, it's because you don't out, you know how dough works. This pizza's quite crunchy. Yeah. It's quite inedible. So there you go. F1 terms, our advice is don't be slow and make

the right decisions. And now we're going to go into our second break and we've already made two pizza references and two B&Q references. This is the late breaking podcast. We are so back. Okay. We're now moving on to Red Bull, who seemed

to be quite quick again. But I wanted to draw some... I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Give it 25 minutes, mate. We'll get there. Don't worry.

Higher or lower? Mate, neither. We need it, just not yet. Sorry, for people that... But I'm looking at this on a camera, I'm doing this on a sofa, and so the soundboard's right next to me and I accidentally lent on it.

Premature, higher or lower. No, thank you. It happens to the people, you know. Higher. That's what they all wish. Well, anyway, move on. Anyway, yes. So I just wanted to read out a quote from Adrian Newee.

This is a few weeks ago, bear in mind. Our car, it's very much a third evolution of the 22 car. Last year's car was an evolution of 22, and its main points being, of course, the normal one to development in terms of aerodynamics, some understanding on what we needed to do with suspension, to try to improve the car as well, and getting weight out of it

because we never got down to the weight limit in 20. This year's car is the third evolution of that original RB18. What we don't know, of course, is the third evolution to conservative, while others have done something different. You just don't know. Well, Adrian, the car was then released, and it turns out you're not quite just evolving the car. It feels quite different.

What do you make of this, Sam? Because based on his quotes, you would think they weren't going to change all that much. And then, of course, it looks like they're changing a bit more. Yeah, I thought Adrian knew he was. as a smart person, but it doesn't seem to an old revolution or evolution rather means. And this is more of a revolution than an evolution. This is basically a brand. They're basically mocking Mercedes here.

They basically wheeled out on Mercedes gone, ha ha, how one works. You know, Nelson's on the side of the garage pointing directly at them, laughing. I just, it's so F1. This is so Formula One. We're not sure. We don't think we're going to be very good. Oh, it's a bit, oh, have we done enough? We don't know.

We won 98% of the Grand Prix's available last season. We don't know if we've done enough rolls out the car in barraining and testing to 1.1 seconds faster than everyone. I know it's testing. I know that if you shouldn't read anything, it's what testing does. But come on. You've got to look at something here. And Adrian Newee, he's bringing, what, Formula One for 43 years and he has 25 titles I read,

somewhere. The guy knows what he's talking about. The guy knows how to, yeah, Harry's looking around like his other titles are. I'm quite honestly, mate, I can't tell you either. But Karin Shandok said 25 and I trust that man because he's a friend of the podcast. So the guy knows what he's doing. The guy has a technical brain. The guy's inside of his mind is like a blueprint that is constantly evolving. He knows what he's doing. And I have no doubt that his evolution to himself is so small. But to everyone else is literally like the difference between building yourself a little cottage out in farmlands and then erecting a skyscraper in the centre of New York and calling it, you know, the, the, Adrian Nui Tower or something.

Yeah, hold on, I had to come up with something there. My point is, yes, Adrian Nui Tower. Quite like that, actually. My point is here that Red Bull are crafty devils. They know exactly what they're doing. And this is so Formula One to sandbag with your words before. the season's even started, and then to roll out a system that is created by maybe the best aerodynamicist of all time and go, oh, we don't know if it's good enough, tee-he, and then you're a second faster.

But props to you, it is funny, so well done. I love it when Adrian do it becomes Michael Jackson, it's great. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, man, what are you, what are you forced on Red Bull just going completely, in a different direction than they have done in the past. I'd firstly like someone to go and check on Mike Elliott from Mercedes because he's going to be absolutely. Absolutely.

Fuming. Poor Mike. His legs popped off. They unveiled that red ball and Mike's head just went bang. Just they've done it. You have like a laugh. Yeah, look, this is, it's surprising how bold this is given how dominant

how dominant last year's car was. But I do remember last year there was a quote from Adrian Newey and I can't remember who said it but as in who reported it. Obviously Adrian Newey said it. But it was about how last year's car he was like, nah, that has way more in this.

Like it's not even anywhere near optimal which was frightening thought and I feel like we are now in the frightening reality because they've Yeah, whip the covers off this car and it's not even close to what last year's car looked like. And again, we're basing this off day one of testing. But so far, oh my lord.

And then even if it's, there were 1.1 seconds up the road from everyone else, it's not even that. It's the time Vestappan did. Is it quicker than any time that was done in testing last year? I'm not sure across the three days, but at least versus day one last year, I think he was about 1.5 seconds faster than what he did. sure on the tires as well, whether they were exactly the same or not. But yeah, 1.5 seconds. Anywho, yeah, it's so surprised, but anyway, it's a surprise that they've done this. But clearly they, Adrian's been working on this and thinking this is what is even better than

what they had. You can imagine them in pitching up to, I don't know, Christian Horner, whoever, Helmut Marco and being like, look, this is your new car for next year. And they're like, are you sure, Adrian? He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, they're just, at this point, they just go, yeah. Yeah, right. Sure. Source. Easiest job.

Source. Trust me, bro. I'm Adrian Newee. Yeah, it's bold. And so far, it looks like it's paying off. Obviously, that's very early days. But it kind of surprised me that it was so bold, given the dominant position they were in in 2023.

Again, don't read too much into testing, but they were four and a half seconds faster than Nico Holkenberg. Now, I know how much. aren't quick. They're just looking after the tires. Don't worry about it. That's how they've learnt the two of the tires. We'll go drive five second fast at everyone else.

The most amount of laps of anyone today, so believe in the house. Sure. Yeah. Back to Red Bull. Yeah, if this works, and it, as you already say, it looks like it might be working, at what point can we, and I already think he's in this discussion, but at what point can we just debate that Adrian Nui is maybe the greatest individual in F1 history? Like he is he's got to be up there.

He's that good. And if he's able to master a philosophy, the rival team, Mercedes, no less, we're not talking about Hasseh, we're talking about Mercedes. If they can master a philosophy that they've abandoned, what a move. Like, that is swagger to the end of degree if you're able to do that. And I respect it immensely because the best don't settle. The best don't settle for where they're at. They keep moving. It doesn't matter how clear you are of the field or, you know,

how many wins you get, as was the case last year for Red Bull. The second you lose that hunger and that edge, the pack will be right there with you and they'll be on you. And Red Bull are refusing for that to be the case, that they want to keep evolving. They want to keep challenging, not just the field to improve, but challenging themselves to be better. It feels like they're using themselves, basically using themselves as their own benchmark to say, we can still be better.

This is a prime example of Red Bull just proving themselves as winners. And this is what F1 is all about. It's pushing the boundaries of what is possible versus a book of regulations that you're given, which is exactly what they're doing here. They've said, look, we've got a very good concept already. ready, we're going to look to do even more based on this. And, look, I mean, Red Bull success might not be great for the sport, or at least like Red Bull's dominance, I should say,

rather than success, is not great for the sport. But if there's one party, I don't blame in that, it's Red Bull. Like, they're just, they're doing their job. And the onus is on everyone else to catch up. So I, look, we'll see how it pans out the rest of this season and early in the season, but I respect the hell out of it. There was a little part of me that thought when we did our predictions that I was considering not putting Red Bull first. I'm guessing you're not considering that anymore.

Well, I don't want any spoilers to come up, but I was laughing at myself. Let's say that. Sunday's episode, by the way, everyone. That will be Championship Sunday. We'll be giving our drivers and constructors' predictions for the 2024 season. Let's move on to a little bit more from testing. And it's a comment from Fernando Alonzo, which is always good for a segment. isn't it? Because Fernando Alonzo is not very happy about the limited time that the drivers get

for testing. So up to it used to be, and not that long ago, that there would be two pre-season tests that were both four days long. So if you do the math, two times four, you get eight. Quick maths. Quick maths. Thanks, Harry. So it used to be eight days. It's now only three. So, sorry, it's now only three. Nice. Thank you. That happened at Bahrain in the week before the race.

so clearly quite a cut down on what used to be available. Fernando Alonso had the following to say about that. We have very limited testing in Bahrain. I've been thinking all winter about this, how unfair it is that we only have one day and a half to prepare for a world championship. Skewing. There is no other sport in the world

with all the money involved and with all the marketing and the good things that we say about Formula One and being closer and closer to the fans. I cannot understand why we then go to Bahrain for four days, which could be two and two for the drivers. If you go to free, which is not even, sorry, this is great, which is not even, which is an odd number,

and you cannot divide between the drivers. And I don't know why we don't go racing with two cars. Harry, does he have a point? I love the idea that it's Christmas Day, Fernando Alonzo is sat there. I'm so angry. So angry. Do you want to open another present, Fernando?

No. What's the matter? I'm so annoyed about there's only three days. It's just not fair. Oh, Lonzo, love you. I'm going karting. Going karting. I love to agree with Lonzo on most things, mainly because what he says is gold.

But I'm not sure I do on this one. What they do now is enough. I understand his point about, do I understand his point at all? I guess maybe, you know, the half a day thing is a bit, it's a bit much, but it's the same for everyone. So just get on with it. It's fine. We don't need all these days, especially nowadays, where reliability in Formula One is basically bulletproof. Like, you don't see breakdowns. I mean, it's rare to see a breakdown nowadays during a race. So they don't need days and days and days and days of testing, you know, and in a cost cap era and an era where we try and save on emissions,

the setup they have now kind of works for me again I'm not sure about testing about the in the same place as the first race but from an omissions point of view I get it but no I don't I don't agree with this I think three days is plenty sort yourself out if your car's not working

then that's your lookout and you're gonna have to deal with that as we saw with like McLaren last year terrible start to the year they had a terrible start they had a terrible test and it compounds it from there but saying it's unfair is not right because this is the same for everyone. So sorry, Fernando.

I know you'd love to drive an F1 car at any available opportunity. So I appreciate why he wants to just drive more. But I don't really agree. I do. I understand his point in the, George Russell also had some comments on this, by the way. And he likened it to Raffa Nadal at the French Open

only getting one and a half days to prepare for, a tennis event, which you would never get. And I don't think you'd ever get this sort of lack of preparation time in any other sport. Of course, that does completely discount the work of, you know, in terms of simulators and like and saying that's worth absolutely nothing, which isn't the case. So I understand what he's saying here. And to be honest, I would agree with him that is probably worth just letting them both run both cars for the three days.

I don't see why not. Like he says, they're kind of there already. so they might as well go ahead and do that. But yeah, I agree with what you say, Harry, and reliability is so bulletproof now that it's more entertaining to see what they can come up with at the first race of the year. Of course, Fernando Alonso himself had a fantastic Bahrain Grand Prix,

if you remember. You know, was he hampered by the fact that he only had one and a half days testing? It didn't feel like it. So I don't think these drivers are missing out massively on this. And bear in mind as well, when you've got teams, I know Williams had a few problems as we're recording this on the Wednesday of testing. But other than that, everyone else ran at least 100 laps today and has getting up near 150.

If we look at last year's totals, Alpha Tauri did the most laps last year at 456 laps, which if you consider the Bahrain Grand Prix as 57 laps, that works out quite nicely for my numbers to say that's eight full races. in three days of the Bahrain GP. That's a third of eight races. That's a third of the calendar in less than half a week. It's a lot of time when, you know, three days. So outside of the, like to say, I would let them run both cars,

but I don't actually think this needs to be expanded. Actually, I will say one thing. If they do want to expand it, put it in the cost cap. If you want to go, if you want to go race, if you want to do like two weeks of testing and take that out the cost cap, go ahead and do it. But also, you're going to probably cost yourself an upgrade later in the year. So I don't know.

Maybe that should be a factor. What do you think, Sam? Yeah, don't care, quite frankly, Fernando. You put yourself in a microwave. You clearly have yourself with a slow cooker for this entire Christmas period because you are absolutely pulling apart at the seams to get this one out. And it's a lot of absolute rubbish. This is terrible from you, Fernando.

The only point I agree with is the two cars. As we're testing in the same place that we're going to be going, You're going to have to bring all your equipment, all your personnel anyway at some point. Fine. Bring both the cars, run both the cars. I have no issue with that. You get more time in that sense. But Fernando, you are essentially the most experienced person on the racetrack.

You and Lewis Hamilton, right? Between you, you're the most experience. You stand to gain the most by having the least amount of testing. Because naturally, you can pick it up the quickest because you've done it many, many times before. You know what you're doing. You're an expert at this. stop moaning on in a world where we are more green

which tries to be more efficient we've got to think about the environment bang is right with the cost cap there's a lot of things that factor into this now and you don't need acres and acres and acres of testing I think we should have less testing throughout the season and you know you bring up that point

that Russell made about oh Godal wouldn't only train for a day and a half before he starts his season okay you're right to bring up the sim stuff but then every single event that we go to which is basically every week at this point you do three testing sessions and then you have a qualifying session

and then you have a race and then you'll do sim practice. So your whole season is driving a car of some capacity and equally nothing is technically stopping you over the winter break from doing other driving. You are allowed to take part in non-formularity seasons.

If you'd like to maintain your fitness, if you'd like to practice your racecraft, you see them all carting, go and do it. That is the same as practicing. So this is a lot of rubbish from Fernando. is winging, and for the first time and a long time, I think, I completely disagree with him.

I think this is low rubbish, mate. Sorry, but I'm sure you'll be all right, Fernando. I'm sure you'll cope just fine. We're going to take our last break of this episode, and we'll be playing higher or lower on the other side. Haven't heard that jingle in ages. I can't wait for it to come back. Shut up.

Before we get into high or lower, it's probably a good point just to say this, that after we are done recording, this episode. We're actually going to be recording something else for, you guessed it, Patreon. It's our first ever history review that we're going to be doing straight after this. We're looking at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, so we're excited to reminisce about the first time we watched it, but we've also all three of us recently rewatched it. So we're going to have some fun discussing that on our Patreon. So if you'd like to get involved, if you're not already,

the link is in the description. But let's crack on, Harry. You can play it now. Which one? going the right way for a smack button me F1 higher is sad faster F1 lower F1 F1

Okay F1 higher Oh no I've got to find it It's not on this page Oh How long have you had to sort this out Oh

I've actually just gone straight to the right page Never mind folks I know everyone was panicking F1 higher or lower So six questions All of the questions have a numeric answer. Sam and Harry will take it in turns and they'll give a guess to the question.

If they get it right, they get two points. If they don't get it right, the other person then needs to say higher or lower. If they get that right, they get a point. But if they get it wrong, the person who made the initial guess gets the point. So, Harry, starts off. What number would you like? Number one, please, Ben. That makes a lot of sense to start with number one. Oh, dear, what have I said to you? Come on. I got it. It's fine.

Yeah, it's all right. In their time as teammates, how many times did Sebastian Vettel out-qualified Kimmy Reichenen? 53 times. It's not 53. Sam.

I'm going to go higher. You are correct. It is higher than 53. Do you know why? Because it's 503. That is so horrible. You'd have beat me as well. I had that question lined up

about knowing what the answer was, and I guessed 52, so you'd have got me by one. It's hilarious, because I guess 54, but we'll never know. Yeah, you had to just say higher,

obviously, but if you were guessing first, you'd have gone 55. I guess the state of how much higher, so, you know. Exactly, yeah. So good tactic. Sam, you lead 1-0,

and what number would you like next? I'll have number two, please, Ben. going in order. Love this. How many starts did Brendan Hartley have in F1? Not enough. Oh, Harry's favourite man. Lower.

I wish there was less. I'm going to go with 43. It's not 43. What do you say, Harry? Lower. Well done for not just answering. Not as much as it should be. But lower is correct, yes.

He did 25 in the end. Can work out if it was one full season or two full seasons that he got through. He did one and a half or one and a third, right? Yeah, that was my point, whether it was one full season before he then got kicked out during the next one, or is it two full seasons and then he got kicked out during the next one? Didn't he start midway? And he made it till the end of a year, I think. Anyway, I should know this is his number one fan, but I feel like he started like, yeah,

two-thirds of the way through the season or three-quarters of the way through the season. But yeah, 25 overall. Brendan Fartley, because his career stinks. You're going to row here for a smack bottom as well, son. Yay, good one. Recycle the line. Oh, chaos.

Back to you, Harry. Can I have number four, please. How many podiums does Daniel Ricardo have an F-1? Um, 20. No. Higher or lower than that, Sam. I'm going to go, I think you're pretty close there. I'm going to go higher.

It is higher. Give some respect to Daniel Ricardo. He's got 32. I see. Yeah. I thought it would be mid to high 20s. Well done it, Rick. Yeah.

Back to you, Sam. Uh, number five, please, Ben. Sure. Hmm. Oh dear. I'm actually really struggling with this one. I'm not even joking. It's something about Williams.

Yeah, I've got it, yeah. Okay. Well, that, sorry, this, even for my standards, that is awful. I might actually upload that somewhere. Yeah, send the photo, please. The number of races, Nigel Mansell, one for Williams. Races he won. And go with seven.

It's not seven. Higher or lower, Harry. I'm going to go with higher. Yeah, probably good shout. Put a two in front. 27. He won a championship with him, Sam. Yeah, I know, but he only had one properly decent year with him.

So I was surprised that there were ones outside of that year. A savage. 986 called him once his wins back. I have fun with that, mate. I ain't go back there. Sam's actually the tire that caused me as to win the championship. Which means it's still close. It's two or.

and it's back to you, Harry. Number five, what's left? Six. How many races did Michael Mansour? 27. Number six, number six. Yeah, you can have number six. Okay, since 2011,

how many times has the 107% rule been enacted in F1? So the drivers have not been able to start the race? And so they've not been able to start There's no like dispensation about it They just didn't start the race They didn't start the race I was going to say

It's just a trick question and say zero But then Sam can only go higher It's true It's not zero I will tell you that I don't know I don't as many times twice It's not two

Has it happened once or more than twice. I hate 50-50s. Can I ask Ben, this will not help my answer, but I'm just curious, are you counting it as if it's per driver or as a team?

Is it's exercise per driver? So it's per driver. So if, for example, both drivers in a team weren't able to start, that counts as two. Okay, I'm going to say higher. Higher is correct. So it happened to HRT both drivers twice.

So 2011 and 2012, both of their drivers weren't allowed to start the Australian Grand Prix. God, they must hate it down under. Yeah, which is where they are now as a team. Very good. Which means it's three two. Sorry. Thanks, Harry. Appreciate that.

Sam, you've got three points. What number would you like? Three! There it is. How many corners are there at Jeddah? Oh, no. I could sit here and go through the crack in my mind. The first two-hour podcast.

While I crash into the wall in my head seven times. 23. It's not 23. Harry, for the draw. Higher or lower? Higher? It's not many more, but it is higher. 27.

I thought I sounded a bit more like Louis, whatever his name is from Mother Number 5. You mean Bob the Builder, right? Yeah. Yes, that's the one. A little bit of lofty. Yeah, I think so. Thanks, skung.

A little bit of lofty. real draw. We didn't actually solve anything there. Absolutely lost it of a bulper-building humor. That's really good, that. Oh, boy.

Sam, get us out of it. We've got championship predictions on something to look forward. We missed the best segment in podcasting, haven't we? Oh, that's your question. It is about Alpine, to be fair, so we should do.

what is the greatest segment and the most forgotten segment in all of Formula One podcasting. It is the... Is it the... LB question of the week? I swear to God. I think so. I think so. Right.

The question was, of course, Alpine were very smug going into testing last year. No one really knows why. So we were asking the question, what are they smug? about this year? Answers. I got to kick it off with the most liked answer, I think from Ellie here, who we met at one of our

Williams family shows. And she, even our show. We did get at our Williams Open Day. It's like an ice open day. Our Williams Open Day that we hosted for Williams.

Go on in, James. Alex, mate. Come on. You come. Do you want to come to the late breaking school? Is that a really British thing? Open days.

I don't know. Anyway, she very brilliantly said that they don't have to contribute to child support for Otmar's nine babies, which, you know, under the cost cap, I imagine is horrible to deal with. I'm very happy to see that like 50% of the answers were about Otmar's nine kids. What have we done? Honestly. Shout out to now what is the most random but my favourite ongoing joke from Matthew Dean who said Barry Manilow tickets. I've got a whole row. Oh, it's so good.

Oh, buzzer. Tugu Ventra said, Okon being penalty-free so far this season, which, you know, brilliant, well done. Um... Oh, dead, dead air. That's not good for a podcast. Sorry, I thought Ben was going to ship in. Like two minutes a bit before Harry said week.

That was anticipation. It's fine. All right. Andy Brown says baguette, which is fair. Is that offensive? Baguette? I don't think so. I don't know.

I'm not. French. Darrell said how nice their pink camo livery looks. Look, don't get a set off, Darrell. We've had a nice time here. There were a few livery shouts on here. There was one from Quinlan Lloyd as well, which was how much more weight they saved than everyone else by not painting the car.

Oh, very good. They must be very smug about that. They just realized an anagram of their name is penial, and that makes them giggle. Thanks, Colin. Good one. Colin is on our way. I saw that and I'm like, I know Sam's going to say that.

Honestly, I started reading it before finishing it before finishing it beforehand, so I didn't even proof it. Good. That's good. Some girl here called Laura said

it's because they've got Laura as their podcast, I don't know who that is. Probably won't pay off. What's a status on that? She's still banned. It's almost been a year and a half. It's still banned.

Still banned? Yeah, what you're on about? Yeah. It's just indefinite now. until I fancy changing the rules. Yeah. Fair enough. When the joke stops being funny,

which it doesn't. They should be unbad. A few others that I just wanted to point out. Liam, in alphabetical order, they are first. That was a very good answer. Because, of course, Alfa Romeo and no longer Alfa Romeo. So they've got that going for them now. Jason Gates, 91, saying they aren't Hasse.

Yeah, that's a reason to be. Yeah, absolutely. And one last one from Josh, who said that they are smug about knowing they decide the fate of LB teammate wars this year. Yeah, that's fair. Hey, that's a good one. Also, I got a few shoutouts because I didn't put them as the worst livery and they're proud of that, apparently. So. Sucking over that.

But anyway. Maybe I'll reconsider it. I would like to shout out Card Jam as well, who says, because they're a pottery biscuit base. I love it. It makes no sense at all. A good. Master Chef Greg Wallace reference now for anyone concerned. Who have I thought?

Wow. Wow. On the most freaking podcast. Greg Wallace. Base, base, base. I'd love to read about Greg Wallace is Saturday morning. That is so niche. That is so British and so niche.

It really is. Right. It's off for that. Poor kid. It feels like a Greg Wallace reference is the right place to go off on this podcast. just that sums it up more than anything, doesn't it, so? Yeah, it does. Let's move on to brighter things.

Folks, the Fantasy League is back. Links in the description will be advertising this up until the start of the season. It's time for you to create your team and probably for us to create our teams and get into the late breaking Fantasy League, where we all go up against one another to be the best. So have a little look. It's completely free if you've not done it before. And what you do is you just pick a draft of five drivers and two teams. You get a budget.

It's all very fun. It's a fantasy. you know, give it a go. You might enjoy it. A lot of you can turn it off off through the year if you really hate it. Discourse is also the link in the description. And you're still, yeah.

Before we, sorry, before you carry on. There's a life update from Beef. Do you want to play that or no? If you've got it ready, mate, why not? Go on then. Here she is. That's a good, beef. Hello, Beef Upday.

I'm thriving, thriving and surviving and living my best life. I had a full week off work the other week. It was great. I saw loads of friends. I saw loads of family. I went to the zoo and I saw Otters. So having a great time.

Can't believe. That's problem while he's finally back. Buzzing. Me and my housemate are going to binge watch, strive to survive on Saturday. And I'm going to make us a big fat fry up. Okay, bye. Pat fry.

Absolutely getting us used up there in the Northlands. Pat fry beef. She's absolutely ruined my outro, which is for some. So frustrating. Patreon's available if you're here more of this silliness. And probably more Greg Wallace references. Again, we're reviewing the Brazil-08 Grand Prix

in our first ever historic episode. So, you know, for those of you who are subscribed, we hope you're looking forward to it. I think that's it. I'm bad enough thing anyway. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. I've been Makasam.

I remember. Keep breaking late. Wow. A little bit lofty. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.