The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Last lap drama at Silverstone! | 2020 British GP Review | Episode 63

Episode Date: August 2, 2020

Absolute craziness at Silverstone! The boys disect a crazy end to this year's British GP, and vote for their Driver Of The Day...Make sure to SUBSCRIBE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to look out for new episodes every Thursday and Grand Prix Sundays. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking Formula One podcast. Today reviewing the British Grand Prix. A slightly dull end to proceedings, but there's nothing we can really do about that, I'm afraid. Of course it was exciting.

Valtry Bottas, Carlos Seines and Lewis Hamilton all facing. punctures towards the end of the Grand Prix. Very thrilling end. Lewis Hamilton actually winning the race, but with a puncture just about holding off Max Verstappen. Samuel Sage, Harry Ead, of course, join me today. Guys, have you recovered yet? And why is the answer no?

Wow, wow, wow. I sound like an ambulance going down the M25. I am so pumped. That was Formula One. If you're going to look at five laps and go, what's Formula One like and show someone? That's what it's like. My God, that was exhilarating.

Well, well done, Pirelli, Silverstone. Well done, bad tire management. Perez would have been laughing at all of you if he was there. But that was fantastic. My God, I loved it. Yeah, that was crazy. I was kind of thinking that this was going to be one to, you know, forget, a bit of a snooze fest.

And then, you know, punchers, deliver every time. Good on your punches. driver of the day punctures I mean yeah what a sensational end to the Grand Prix like you said it wasn't exactly a thriller for most of the Grand Prix but it really brought it out in the end we've naturally got a lot to get through Lewis Hamilton of course taking the win we'll be looking at Max Westappen's decision to pit

and whether he should have gone ahead and done it and of course Valtrey Bottas scoring no points which in a reduced championship could have massive permutations Alex Albin, another tough race for him. He did recover to score points, but he was involved in a collision with Magnuson. We'll be reviewing that one. Roman Grojean shown a black and white flag. We're going to be asking whether he should have received a penalty after he did exactly the same thing again after receiving the warning.

And the tire compounds for next race. They're supposed to be softer again. We'll be reviewing whether that should stand or whether Pirelli should go back on their decision. But first, we will turn to the race at the front. And for much of the Grand Prix, it seemed like it was a rude. routine one, two for the Mercedes guys, Lewis Hamilton, leading home Valtry Bottas. A few laps to go, Valtry Bottas gets a puncture, ends up out of the points in 11th. Louis Hamilton receives a puncture on the last lap of the Grand Prix, but just about stumbles home.

Just to run through the top 10 quickly, it was Hamilton, Vastapn and LeCler on the podium, then Ricardo, Norris and Ocon, Gassley and 7th, Alban and 8th stroll, and then Vettel rounding out the points. Sam, I'll start with you. Lewis Hamilton, 25 point gain on Bottas today. How hard is Bottas going to have to work now to get that advantage back? Well, the unfortunate thing for Bottas is this isn't 1964 anymore where cars can fail at literally any given minute. Mercedes-Reliability is ridiculously high.

So Lewis Hamilton will not crash out of the Grand Prix unless he's crashed into realistically. The amount of mistakes that Lewis makes is minuscule. So you can almost rule out any chance of gaining points based on a Lewis-related incident. So you've got to look to beating him on track, which he's proving is doable. You know, it's not an impossible feat. And Bottasian to maybe hope that now Lewis is on his second, is it, MG UK, I think it is. A little earlier, they've been a little bit careful with it.

Maybe that fails and he has to take a penalty or half a through a race. It's gone, much like we saw with Rosberg. That might be the way he gets the points back. But I think if the season is smooth running from Mercedes for the. rest of the season, that is championship done and finished. Realistically, I think Lewis could probably relax for a couple of Grand Prix if he really wanted to. He can take the pedal off. That guy's so comfortable when it comes to leading. He's fine. I think he's fine. What has to have to have the season of a lifetime now to claw anything back on what has just being a, that was a world

champion's performance after dragging that home on the last step with Max the staffing of all people closing you down. What a race. What a race. We'll go victory and we will see if that if that is what maybe gives him the seventh world title to match the all-time great Schumacher. You know, I'm speechless. It was incredible. So, yeah, Bottas has got a long, long road to go if he wants to get even close to winning this championship. Harry, how do you think Bottas gets back into this now and is he going to rely on Hamilton not scoring at least one Grand Prix? yeah he's got to have something similar happen to hamilton now i felt sorry for valtery actually because for it's like 70% of that race i think he had i did not necessarily saying he's going

overtaken but he definitely had hamilton kind of pegged but then you know maybe that was because he was taking a bit more out of his ties i.e like a lap more than than hamilton did it turns out but yeah i felt sorry for him so it's just that's bad luck um he probably could have maybe made a lunge on Vettel at the end, but then if he tripped over Vettel, then what would have been the point? So, yeah, he needs, he needs, he needs Hamilton not to score at another race at some point, probably next weekend so he can get straight back in the hunt, because, yeah, that gap's now 30 points. Yeah, it's a tough one. Tough one for Botas to swallow, because I thought he was actually relatively good today.

I thought he had some good pace, good race pace, which we've, you know, not necessarily seen all the time from him. So, yeah, it's a shame for him. Yeah, gutting for Valdry Bottas. And like you say, he kept Lewis Hamilton within about a two-second gap for the majority of the Grand Prix. He didn't let him get away. So it was an impressive race from Valtry Bottas. And it's just horrible luck more than anything else. If this happens, I was going to say two-court.

If this happens one corner before, it did actually happen because it started, this tire problem properly started on the penultimate lap. a penultimate corner of that lap. So after the point where he needs to dive into the pits, if it happens, you know, one corner, maybe two corners beforehand, he goes into the pits and he probably ends up finishing P3 and loses a grand total of three points rather than 18, which is, it's so gutting.

And going up against Lewis Hamilton, we know how talented Lewis Hamilton is, how many championships he's won, how many races he's won. You don't need exterior factors to go against you. in a fight against Lewis Hamilton. There's so much stacking up against you anyway. Bad luck is not something you need. And that's all that happened today.

Valtrey Bottas had bad luck. He had bad luck that Lewis Hamilton had a bad start on one of the Grand Prix where you can get away with it. He had bad luck that, you know, it happened where it did. And with Lewis Hamilton, he was able to recover enough. Hamilton didn't have Vastappen as close as he should have been if Vastappen didn't come into the pits.

Hamilton had half a lap to deal with it rather than a whole lap to deal with it. So, yeah, this is just horrible luck for Valtry Bottas. And I realistically think that, yeah, it's going to be a DNF that Bottas needs to get back into this. 30 points between the two drivers now. So, yeah, such a shame for him. Led to a great finish to the Grand Prix, but I'm sure that's little consolation for Valtry Bottas. Just to stay on Valtry Bottas for a little bit longer, he did have an opportunity into term one due to the poor start that Lewis Hamilton made.

Sam, do you think Bottas needed to be more aggressive into term one and take that position? Oh, 100%. How many times are we to say that Bottas needs to be that bit more clinical? It's the same with the end of the race. He's on brand new tires. He could claim one championship point. And for all you know, come the end of the season, one championship point could be enough to win you the title.

He doesn't go past better either. Yeah, Bottas needs to keep that nose in that first corner. get alongside him going into turn three and break later, squeeze Hamilton to the outside of the track, and make life difficult. You're never going to beat Lewis Hamilton by bowing down and letting him walk on through. You need to make Lewis's life as difficult, as frustrating as possible. That's what Rosberg did so brilliantly in 2016. He made his life difficult.

He got inside Hamilton's head. He got a little lucky with some engine issues, but he did all the other stuff brilliantly, and he won the title. Bottas needs to be looking at that and doing the same thing. So the only way you're going to beat Lewis, by backing out of corners too early, by not putting the car where it needs to be, by not showing that you're not got a world champion. Essentially, right there, you're not going to go home and win one. So for me, Bottas doesn't do enough right from the get-go.

Hamilton has a poor start. Bottas could have been handed the race league from turn one, doesn't take it. And for me, that's what separates the world champion and someone who can just win races. What about you, Harry? Do you follow the same line of thinking of Sam? yeah it was um look you could say botas should have been more aggressive and tried to take it you know side by side through um through abbey but that's a difficult one to do and we saw how wrong-footed max got he had to sort of lift out of it and lecler got him and then immediately he went he came straight back at him you know we could say botas was more aggressive and then he tripped over hounson and that wipes both of them out and we'd all be saying what the hell was he doing so yeah it's a it's a tricky one, if it was a different turn one, then like a heavier

braking zone, say it's, I don't know, Mexico, and with a longer run, then maybe it'll be harsher on him, but it, in a at Silverstone's a pretty tricky one to go side by side. It's normally one car through there. But yeah, it is like Samson says, like a

general trend, and it does kind of separate Hamilton from Bottas just that little bit, but yeah, I can't be too harsh for that one, I think. Yeah, it's, and like I say, I do think Hamilton got lucky with that start in that he is much better at the starts than he used to be. He was kind of plagued by these errors back in 2016 and before that, and it cost him a number of race wins. Nowadays, he seems to have sorted those issues out and he doesn't get poor starts as regularly as he used to, but today definitely falls under that category.

And it does happen at somewhere like Mexico or even somewhere, even at Hungary, I think Bottas takes the position. I can't think of the top of my head, but Britain does have one of the smallest runs down to turn one out there. And I'm actually going to disagree with Sam here. I'm going to say that Bottas played it right on that first corner because I don't think there was any opportunity for him to get past. Lewis Hamilton's on the racing line. The only thing Bottas can do is hold his foot in,

and at that point, contact is very possible. And if he does hold his foot in, where does Hamilton go? he goes even more to the racing line or he goes off track which is which is not beneficial for the team so i don't think there was any version of events there where botas actually takes that position away from hamilton the inside of that corner is horrible um and it just doesn't lend itself well going side by side through there in normal race circumstances you'd always you know you'd always try and go around the outside as your first port to call and you'd only really get up the inside as Gazley did when you have a significant advantage.

And Bottas didn't have that because once they had got to that second stage, I think the cars were relatively similar in terms of their speed. So I do agree on the overall point that Bottas does need to be more aggressive generally. But into that corner, I don't blame him. I think he played it right. It's just Sam hates Bottas. He does, it's well known. I don't hate Bottas.

But actually, ironically enough, the puncher came because Lewis said in his interview, Bottas was pushing me so hard the whole race. And fair credit, Bottas was trying all race. And we're setting our text festus, you know, we always talk throughout the whole race, as three idiot mates always do. And Bottas was literally keeping Hamilton within a second and a half,

the entire race all over that race pace. And maybe because of that is what causes tires to go when they dig. So go on in for doing it, but maybe it costs him dearly later on. Yeah, absolutely. and obviously not the only one to suffer from that fate, as Carlos Seines found out as well. Moving on to Max Verstapp and, of course, finished second,

went for the fastest lap at the very end of the Grand Prix. He got it as well, so it comes away with 19 points as opposed to 18. But in hindsight, obviously would have won the race if he didn't choose the pit for that fastest lap. Harry, do you think this was the right call for him to go into the pits? The call to go in for a fastest lap obviously now looks a bit foolish and he did gain that extra point

but he could have gained the race win but again at the same time hindsight is a wonderful thing if Verstappen had stayed out there the Mercedes weren't the only cars got puncture signs did as well say if Astappan had stayed out and then got a puncture too

then we'd all have been saying why didn't he stop he literally had the space to stop yeah they'll be kicking themselves but there's no way of knowing and they may not have made it across the line anyway if they hadn't stopped in and they did guarantee that extra point

so yeah it's a frustrating one for them and you know say Hamilton's tire had gone you know two corners earlier then Vastafin probably would have got him so yeah if shoulda woulda cutter there's no point being themselves up about it I don't think Sam do you think

this was an error on Red Bull's part or just part of the game? Not in the slightest. I think that Red Bull made the perfect call. You can't predict the future. You see Bottas's tie go, who is, you know, in front of you, you cruise past Bottas struggling for a whole lap. You think, you know, Max even said in his interview post-race, I was on the reggae and my tyres weren't great. I was backing off a little bit to watch my tyres. And you see your competitors' tire go like that. You think, we've got the time. Let's come in. Let's not risk it. they can't predict the future. They don't know that Hamilton's tire goes about half a lap later.

They're not meant to know that. He picked up the fastest lap, which is great for them. He secured second place and yet a little bit of luck of coming to favour that if Hamilton's tire went two corners earlier, they get the wing anyway. But for me, that was the safe option. That was the correct option. It guaranteed that he crossed that line. Red Bull, for me, played that perfectly.

They have not got the best car. They were never going to challenge the saying he's actually on track. And when you see there's a possible chance of your race could be ruined completely and no points could be scored, you take the sensible option and you secure that second place. I was almost more shot that the same is didn't then pit Hamilton

to go on to the last lap. They had the ability for it. I think they would have been close between Max and Hamilton, but I still think they'd have done it. But yeah, for me, it was a perfect call from Red Bull. I cannot fault them. They can't see the future

as much as we all love to. So for me, yeah, great call from Red Bull. Max did the right thing. He really pushed it. They got a second place, and it was well worked for them. I am going to blame Red Bull here. I think it was a poor call. And I'll explain why. And I don't think this is specifically on Red Bull, actually. I think this is the whole grid, really. There's too much of an emphasis placed on this extra point. For some reason, I know every point counts and you have to take them where they come about. But I think overall there is too much emphasis placed on this one point compared to the overall race, which obviously gives out much, much more than this. I've said throughout last season, maybe this season as well,

but at some point, one of these drivers, one of these teams, is going to make a decision to go for this fastest lap, and it is going to backfire. And it's taken a year and a half, but finally one team has found that that's the case. You know, they've lost ultimately seven points. And you could say, yes, maybe Max Verstappen was going to get a puncture on that final lap in the same way that Lewis Hamilton did.

We obviously don't know that. But let's base it off the fact that more cars didn't get a, puncture than did, and let's say he would have come home first place. He's lost seven points there, seven fastest laps, essentially. And you're never going to get, you're never going to make up that deficit. He's lost seven points today. And I don't think there's a situation where Max Verstappen comes in and pits for the fastest lap seven times. And yeah, that's just how I see it. You can't, you can't put too much emphasis on one point compared to the overall race. I understand when Gazley did it a lot. He's not got a lot to fight for. And one point out of eight or ten,

as Gasley was regularly getting, is more of a percentage. But one out of 18 or 25 is very minor. And I knew at some point this would happen where a team has made a decision to come into the pits, get the fastest lap, and overall they've lost race positions because of it. And I don't see Max, Max Verstappen, as far as I'm aware, and correct me if I'm wrong, anyone, has never come into to the pits before, apart from today, and got the fastest lap as a result of strategy. I don't think he's ever done it. He's got fastest lap a few times last season, but as far as I'm aware, that's happened just as a result of the race happening, rather than a direct strategic call towards the end of the Grand Prix. And I don't see Max Verstappen pitting another

seven times and getting seven points as a result of it before something like this happens again. So I, yeah, I'd have kept him out there. Go for it. You've seen what's happened to Botat at, could happen to Hamilton as well. Take the risk. That's my view on it. I think you're being a little harsh part. I totally understand your viewpoint. Yeah, I just don't like Red Bull in the same way you don't like Boss.

I'm just as I'd say Ben hate Red Bull. We've all got something we hate. All right. Well, moving on to Driver of the Day and Worst Driver of the Day. We'll start with the positive. Sam, who is your driver at the day? So this was really, really tricky. Botass is up there.

He did a fantastic job keeping Hamilton on this. Hamilton is up there, you know, seven wings at the time Grand Prix. That is another record that falls under Hamilton's ability. I'm going to, I think, just give it to Daniel Ricardo. He managed to navigate that car through a horrible Roman Grosjean. Looks like he was literally out for blood today. He got through the McLaren's. Yes, okay, science got the puncture, but he was still right there to take a barge of it.

You know, got past Norris, who, science was able to get away. Gnorsuchman able to get away as well, and Ricardo found his way back through. He did really well. He recovered well from maybe wasn't the perfect starting place for them, and he was a really solid Grand Prix. And the same with Espan Okon, actually. I think Ocon drove really well.

There's a lot of standout performance as I'm just giving it to Daniel Ricardo. There's probably something I've missed that's going to like to go, oh, yeah, because that usually happens. But for me, yeah, there's a lot of top guys up there, but I think Ricardo's just nabbed it. Yeah, great race for him. And close to that podium again, you feel as if it's only a matter of time before Renault can take advantage of one of these

races and get one of their cars in the top three. Harry, who are you going for? Well, I'm down annoyed now because I was going to give it to Ricky Bobby too. Yeah, like Ben said, he was only a second off Leclair at the end. I know Leclair backed off, but there's something particularly about that Renault, which we saw with Ocon too. I think they both have some good pace towards the end of the race, so they must be able to look after that tyre better than a lot of the around him. Yeah, he did Norris. Signs, obviously, was unlucky with the puncture.

But yeah, I was going to give it to Ricardo. Other notable mentions, Leclair, you know, that Ferrari does not belong on a podium, quite frankly. Yeah. And I know Vettel's got his own struggles with it, but, yeah, I don't think he does, the car, sorry, he deserves to be there, obviously, but I don't think that car does. Anyone else? Well, I mean, Hamilton and Bottas, they were both good.

but yeah, no, I'm going to agree with Sam and go with Daniel Ricardo. Good. I'll mix it up a bit. I've actually got Charles LeClaire for this one, although I do agree that Daniel Ricardo had a great race out there. Look at what Shao LeClau was able to do with it. He was there, he was not in third the whole race, but he was in his position the whole race. Wasn't overtaken. Did threaten Vastappen at the beginning, realistically. Even if he got ahead, I don't think it would have kept that place anyway. And he was doing a great job against the McLaren's,

maintaining about a five-second gap for the majority of the Grand Prix did slow up at the end, obviously. But yeah, he took advantage of other cars around him running into issues. Carlos Synes obviously get in the puncture and Bottas falling out of the top 10s. And Sebastian Vettel spent his day struggling to get away from Antonio Gervinazzi and getting passed by Pierre Gassley. So he had a much, much better day out there than Sebastian Vettel did. So I'll go, Charlotte-Claer. I do want to say, and it's not really even an honourable mention,

but I did mention this before we started, that Nicholas Latifia, I think, had a really good step forward today. Obviously, not in contention for a driver of the day. He did still lose out to Georgia Russell, but he was much more competitive than he has been in the first three races. And in that second half of the race, he was closing up at one point. So a step forward for him, but I am going to go with Shellaclacl. And going to the worst driver of the day,

Sam, who have you got for this one? Now, this one is also, I think, quite spout. I'm not going to give it to Grogon for his dirty antics. Brogion, by far, he's dirtiest driver of the day, that's for sure, which is obviously the D-D-O-D. But for me, worst driver of the day, I can't give it to Vessel, even though that car looked like an absolute dog. He tried, bless him.

I'm going to give it to Lance Scroll. That car across this season has proven to not be a midfield car. It is better than the midfield, in my opinion. It should be fighting for podiums. It should be challenging Red Bull. Well, the Red Bull of Maximus Dapen. So for me, Strong should have been ahead of that mix with McLaren, with Renaud, with the Alphotauri of Gazri, who actually has gone under the Regi. He had a fantastic Grand Prix.

You know, he should be doing more. And I think that shows you the class difference between Sergio Perez and Lankstra. I feel like Perez might have been maybe in front of science after all of that happened and fighting with Ricardo at the end of the Grand Prix. from that maybe fourth fifth place area. So for me, Lance Stroud, but I also want to give an album mention to Alexander Album. Now, he qualified badly,

but not only did he qualified badly, unlike a lot of people, he failed to make almost any necessary moves. He only got the positions back due to two punctures happening in front of him, Albon and Otas, which elevated him two places at the end of the Grand Prix,

and he made one overtake, which theoretically then put him into where that eighth place is. now. It's not good enough. Again, Albon, it's not good enough. But Inkson was majority of his fault. The skewers even recognised that that final corner is bloody difficult to make a move into, and realistically, you should back out of it. And that's why he got the move. Because Magnuson was well ahead going into the corner. He's cost himself a race there by starting once sitting in the midfield. He's rushed it again. There's no patience. There's no ability to

judge where an actual move needs to be made in a much better car. Staffen's the one once again, almost challenging for a win, almost taking a victory. Albon by pure luck scrapes into four points. It's not good enough. So for me, Strohl gets it because I expect it a lot more

from that racing point. But Albon, oh, come on, man. Get it together. For me, you've got maybe one race where you can turn a good performance and then that it's just bad enough. But, yeah, Albon was bad as well.

Well, more on Albon in a bit. Harry, who have you got? The notable mentions that Sam has mentioned, Albon, stroll, Although I've got to think there was something wrong with that car because Ghazly blast past him

towards the end. But, yeah, I mean, racing point in general was just another wasted weekend when that car should not be, car should have been on the podium by now. But I've got to give it to Grogon. You know, dirties drive of the day or worse driver of the day, it doesn't matter.

It was just horrendous what he was doing. So despite bad performances out there, it's Groson's was the worst. He was, the strategy, admire the bold strategy and all three of us admire a bold strategy and Haas paid off for them in Hungary so they were going to try again here

but he didn't need to defend fifth place as if his life depended on it and he was defending it badly in a dirty way so yeah unacceptable is Grosjean for me and more on Grosjean in a bit as well I'm going to

I'm going to give it to Kimmy Reichen actually and I know the car isn't very good but he was bad Like, that was a bad performance from him out there today. He was nowhere compared to Antonio Giovannazzi. And I know it did end up in retirement in the end, but even prior to that, it was just not really much of a competition. And he got passed by the two Williams guys. And I know Williams have definitely made strides forward this year.

But they have come through qualifying more than they have in terms of race pace. We've still seen in race trim, the alphas and the has still got the advantage over the Williams. but today that was definitely not the case and he got passed clean around the outside by Nicholas Latifi I think his first proper overtake in Formula One and he was languishing languishing at the back and Antonio Gervinazzi didn't have the best race in the world but he was getting stuck in there and he was maintaining pace at least just after the safety car with those guys ahead he did drop off a little bit towards the end of the stint but he put up a much better fight than Kimmy did So, yeah, I'm going to go Reichenham.

When I drive, I take my time. She really did. Sure did. Yeah. No arguments there. Okay, we'll move on to Alex Alburn. As you've already alluded to, Sam. He had a tough race out there.

Did recover to P8 on his two-stop strategy. Went into the pits very early on, the earliest guy to go into the pits. Didn't work out with a second safety car. Stuck on the hard tires for a bit longer until he went on to the mediums, had a few fastest laps, made a few overtakes,

got up into P8. Harry, what did you make of his race, first of all, and then also the collision with Kevin Magnuson that set it on a downward spiral to begin with? Yeah, the race was not another great one,

was it? Another average weekend for Albon, and yeah, quality was poor, and I don't think he can blame on traffic this time. The early pit stop, which then put them on this, you know different two stop to a stop strategy um but that i think that was caused by the incident with manston because i think he had did have some damage um but yeah the incident with magnuson

i again i'm torn it's it's the patience thing i think i would have called it of a racing incident i but you know magnuson had made the mistake and and alban is fairly alongside i would argue but at the same time, again, patience. We've said it before with the incident, with Hamilton in Austria. He could have made that. That car is quicker than the, the house.

He could have waited and made that move at a more reasonable point. Yeah, but at the same time, I think Red Bull, again, they seem to like that more than they liked Gassley not making that move, that sort of move.

So even though it didn't work out, I mean, again, the plane, He got a five second penalty, but part of me thinks they won't actually mind that too much. But again, not a great weekend for Alex. He was the driver I said who needed a good weekend and he didn't. So not a good one. But I think he's lucky that Rebel don't really have many other options. Otherwise, I think time would be running out quicker for him.

Quite possibly. Sam, you've already touched on Albin's performance out there. in terms of the incident with Kevin Magnuson got a five second penalty, would you agree with what the stewards dished out there? Yeah, 100%. We're going to be consistent. This is the first time they've actually been consistent so far this season. It's exactly the same as what happened with Hamilton and Album previously.

Again, Album becoming the usual factor here, unfortunately. Two cars were relatively alongside each other, got a little bit close to the edge of the track, makes contact by the tyres, one goes spinging off. Only fortunately for Albon this time, he was one that gained a position and sent another car spilling off. Yeah, Magnuson made a mistake. But that corner is so fast flowing and such a tight angle, it's the same as in turn one.

It's very difficult to make a move down the inside of that corner. Every F-on driver should know that. The Stewart has even recognised that and their feedback on the penalty. It's a slam-down penalty. He's put another driver out of the race. You've got at that point 51 laps to get a move done. Your car is 100% the better car. You have more speed.

Your teammate is fighting for the podiums and race victories. you're down in what, I think, 14th place at the time, 15th place. Whatever it was, it was shocking. He needs to learn to take a deep breath and go, oh, my car isn't a Williams. I don't need to literally attempt to get the move done at any given second. I've got a better car. Let's get the move done.

Let's work our way through the field. We're seeing it from Hamilton. We're seeing it from Bottas. We're seeing it from Mattel, Ricardo, whatever. Cars, when they have a bad time due to penalties or bad qualifying, they take their time, just like Kimmy. and they work their way through the grid. Albon can't seem to make an overtake without crashing into someone.

And it's not good enough anymore. He's got points on his license for that now as well, because it was reckless. I think it was a really, really poor move to make. I don't think it was a raising incident. I think Albon was silly. He deserves the penalty. The strategy afterwards was then poor. He got lucky maybe with a bit of a bit of the punches again coming through.

Maybe should have only had one point, if not none. for me it was an absolutely shocking race from Alexander Album. And if his pace was simply better and qualifying in the first place, then maybe he wouldn't find himself in this situation. He needs to improve. Yeah, really difficult one for him. And I think probably in terms of the race, the most difficult part for me was when after the safety car,

he was on the same tyres as everyone else. He had slightly older tyres, but there wasn't really anything in it. And he just couldn't make any moves on guys who weren't even inside the top 10, guys in the 11th and 12th, he couldn't make a move on those guys and make any overtakes until he went into the pits,

onto the mediums. And I think he did a solid job on those mediums, but at the same time, Vestappen was still going quick enough on old hard tires that he set a fastest lap late in the Grand Prix

when Albin was setting fastest laps as well. Old hard tires versus relatively fresh medium tires shouldn't be a match, and it was, which tells you it's driver-related in that instance, because Albin, at that point in time, did have the track to himself. Yeah, in terms of the incident itself,

I'm going to go with Harry. I think it was a racing incident based on the fact that Albon got enough of his car alongside Kevin Magnuson, but it does go back to, just because I think it's a racing incident doesn't mean I think Albin should make that move. It goes back to however many he's had

in the last six races or so. It's situational analysis that isn't good enough in his repertoire at the moment. Kevin Magnerson, his has car, is at best the third worst on grid. He had a good start, Kevin Magnuson, and made his way up past a number of guys, so fair play to him, but he's out of position there. And Albin's out of position as well. His car is probably the second best on the grid, so theoretically it shouldn't be in 12th place.

He just needs to be patient. There's an opportunity into term one. Silverstone is plentiful for overtakes. If this happened at, say, Monaco, or somewhere similar to that, and he was given half an opportunity, and he went for it, and it ended up like this, I would have said, okay, not a great move, but at the same time, if he doesn't make it there, he might be stuck behind him for 40 laps, so understandable. Silverstone, that's not the case.

There would have been an opportunity maybe into turn one, if not turn one into Brooklyn's, if not Brooklyn's into cops, if not cops into stow, if not stow into you've got at least half a dozen opportunities around the lap. And at that point in time, you still got 50 to go. So just take your time, Alex. You don't need to make that move. And it's, again, going on that situational analysis. Kevin Magnerson is renowned for not giving space. He is box office after all. Leaving space is not box office. So, what do you have to do? You have to buy your time. You have to look for your best opportunity. The last corner, and like I say, there's about six opportunities to overtake around

Silverstone. The last corner isn't one of them. So Kevin Magderson is probably, even with a mistake, not expecting Albin to go up the inside there. And he's probably expecting him to get in his slipstream and try and get him into turn one. Albin just sticks his nose in, yes, I think he got half a car alongside, meaning it wasn't a penalty. And I think a racing inside. And I think he's and it's fine. But at the same time, I don't think Albin can have many complaints. I think he was lucky to avoid significant damage.

He was lucky to continue on. And to a degree, yeah, he was lucky to get back into the points. So there needs to be something else. It seems to be the opposite problem with Ghazley, where Ghazley wouldn't even, wouldn't attempt any move, even when it was safe to do so.

And now he's back in the Al-Fatari. He seems to be getting better at it. But with Alex Albon, it's the opposite problem if he's making attempts at the first 10% opportunity he gets, rather than waiting for a 70% likelihood of getting past or a 90% likelihood. It's poor racecraft, I'm afraid to say, and Albon, he needs to turn it around at some point.

The determining factor with Albon, and whether you think the instincts are his fault or not, and Ben, I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm wrong. Since Brazil, which was six races ago, so in the last six races, Albon has had contact four times. there are having four major incidents with Albon in the last six races

you look at almost any other driver across the Formula One grid at the moment I don't think anyone has that percentage in terms of major contact with another driver anywhere on the grid at the front, at the back, in the middle, whatever, wheel to wheel fighting

is essential when it comes in Formula One and Albon just doesn't seem to have it. I don't think it is, he just can't pull off and overtake cleanly and he rushes it. The rushing is the main thing that we've said and for me it's the same thing is what happened with him

and Hamilton, two cars were side by side. Hamilton got the penalty. And now Alba gets the penalty. I think that's fair. I think, you know, that's the mistake that's made. Albon needs to work on that racecraft. Otherwise, I don't think he has a place at the front in Formula One. Moving on to another driver that had a tough race, Roman Grosjeon.

He benefited from a strategy that has pulled off. They decided not to pit under the safety car, leaving him in fifth place, on worse tires, but in fifth place nonetheless. he did a good job of defending for some of the race. However, there were a number of incidents where his defending was called into question. Harry, what did you make of Grojean out there? I don't know what he was doing. Grosjean has had his fair share of incidents in the past,

but I have never seen him defend like that before. His incidents in the past have been trying to make an overtake, been a bit clumsy. was just poor and we saw stroll do it as well at one point he got the same black and white flag warning um yeah i'm not sure what's going on like that especially at sylveston is such a high speed track and you know and as as uh dc said on the channel four commentary if they'd you know ricardo and grogion had touched at that speed would have been an airplane and crash it would have been horrendous um yeah it's it was just rookie stuff especially for grow like we all you know we've made fun of grogian and the bagelian and the baguette

of him, but he is a, he is the head of the GPDA and he's a, you know, it's been around the block a few times out to know that that's not acceptable. So, yeah, odd one. I know he would be trying to make the best of an alternate strategy, but trying to chop across drivers like that is just not on. Yeah, I don't know. Did he get a black and white flag for the second one? I'm not sure. I don't think so. I think so. I think I suspect that we go into the stewards for a, for, for, for a telling off and a slap on the wrist. Yeah, because you can't keep doing that. It's just, you'll end

up hurting another driver and yourself one day for keep doing it. So I say for Stroll, I know Stroll didn't do it as much, but he did the same to Science, I think. So was it a science, or Ockland, can remember. And either way, driving standards were poor

from those two today. Not good. All right, Sam, what do you make of it? It's not a difficult race. I don't care where you finish. You put in other drivers' lives in danger. You never know what can happen at that point. That was awful from Grojeon. And after the second time, which I can't believe, the black and white flag, by the way, we should get on to this at another point. Just comes out whenever it fancies. They just decided to throw it out and go, 10 races. Yeah,

maybe bring it out then. But Grojong should have been black flag. After that one on Ricardo, thank God Riccara had absolute cat-like reflexes, because that had been two drivers flying to a wall at 9 180 miles an hour. You don't know the level of damage that could have been caused to either one of those drivers or to a steward or to a car behind

that maybe gets hit by debris. It's not good enough. And then I love the comments from Grosjean previously in the season. Why does Hamilton pay 40 million? Because he doesn't drive like a plonker, you burke. Honestly,

You burke. Honestly, I am appalled. I am appalled. I am disgusted by that manner of defending. Larkstrol. as well deserves an absolute kick up the backside with that. It's not good enough to be weaving around.

There's a reason why that rule is in place. I'm shocked. I'm shocked. He should have been out of that race. Get him off that racetrack and someone tell him that you can't do it like as long as he gets a ban. If he does it again, I think you should get a warning system across races. It should be a, you do it twice.

You're out. You have a race ban now because it's shocking. So, yeah, not good enough at all from me from Grosjeon and from Lance Strong for doing it at all. It's the fact that Romand Grosjean completely missed the point of what he was doing, which probably angered me the most, in that when his team came over the radio the first time it happened with Carlos Sines, and he said, well, I left half the track.

That's not the point. You can leave three quarters of the track if you want to, but it's the late move. It's a move in response to a driver who is already attempting an overtake that is completely unacceptable. The amount of space that he left was fine. There's no problem in that. So I think the team need to speak to him or someone needs to speak to him and just say,

look, this is why you got the penalty, not to do with space, but just because you can't move late after a car has already made a move one way or the other. And you've already mentioned the black and white flag, Sam, and I want to bring up as well because why does it exist? Can someone please answer that? I completely agreed with the stewards bringing in this ruling that a black and white flag essentially acts as a yellow card, which, you know, it's a cross sport reference,

but it applies here, and it works in pretty much the same way. You get your warning, you're told if you continue with the same conduct, then a penalty will follow. What's the point in having it if you're not going to follow through? Grosjean was warned. he got the black and white flag for doing something. And he literally did the same thing again. It's not even as if he had done something similar.

It was the same move. So what's the point in bringing it out if you're not going to penalise it when he does it again? Could you imagine on a football pitch someone doing this awful slide tackle and getting a yellow card? Two minutes later he does exactly the same thing again and nothing happens. There'd be uproar and rightfully so. because every incident should be treated the same. If the incident itself is the same, the penalties should be applied fairly. Grojean, I don't know what will happen post-race,

and for all we know, when you're listening to this, he might well have been penalised already, but he should have been penalised there and then. I don't get it. I really don't get it. And Grojean's tactics out there, I think he did overall an okay job of defending fifth place when he had it. But when he was asked to really dig deep, he should have let the cars go if he was having to resort to those measures to keep them behind.

And yeah, it's not acceptable. It's not acceptable. Safety is, as we always say, safety is paramount. And safety should be at the top of everyone's lists of importance. And it's just not good enough. For someone who has been an F1 for so long and has, you know, he is the head of. the GDPA and he should know better. Is Alex Verz got the hang of the GDPA? They're directors, I think. So I'm not... I thought he was the chairman.

I can't quite work out. I can't quite remember. I think Vettel and Grojean are both directors off the top of my head. And Alex Verst is the overseeing person in it all. But I can't remember the exact titles. Fair enough. Oh, yeah, hang on.

I'll just talk it, wrong it up. Currently there are three directors, Sebastian Vettel, Roman Grosjean, Alex Verz, who also serves with the chairman. So he gets the overriding vote, but you're right, he is essentially in charge

of everything driver-related. Yeah, and you'd expect something better of someone in his position, but we'll see what comes of that. Like you say, we do record these pretty much straight after the Grand Prix, so he might well have received retrospective action,

or at least some sort of talking to by the Stuits. Moving on to our last topic today, of course, we do have a, second race at Silverstone, which considering the end of this Grand Prix is a welcome, welcome thing. And at least at the moment, the tyre compounds are set to change. And I can't remember the exact numbering of the C3 and C4. I can't remember the top of my head. But it is going to be a softer set of compounds next weekend.

Considering the punctures that we got at the end of this Grand Prix, could be fairly exciting. Sam, do you think, based on what we've seen today, the FIA should change that at all? should change that. So I don't think there's an issue with the Pirelli tire, if I'm honest. It's the first time and a long time that I think the tie compounds seem to be a nice balance. There seems to be a difference between each compound. It's not up to Pirelli to go, well, we've told you how long it's going to last for. The tyres did last for that long, and then you took them further, and then they punctured.

Like, you need to make your strategy fit into what we've told you realistically. And you've done enough testing over race after race after racing, all your practice sessions. You've got FB1, FB2, FB3, qualifying, and then race is going on. You know how these tires work. They don't change that drastically. I think that Ferrelli could comfortably bring a softer compounding next race weekend. And the teams just need to be cautious. They need to be aware.

You can push the tires. You can go, you know, hard as you want on that strategy. As long as you counter into the fact that the harder you push a tire, the sooner you're going to have to appear. Sorry, that's racing. Tires degrade. It's not up to Pirelli to go, yeah, the soft tire, it would do 50 laps. Don't worry about it. Punchers won't happen now.

Punchers are exciting in race. racing and you as a team needs to learn to navigate the peaks and troughs of what a tire can bring you. Soft tires will make you go faster. They will also delaminate faster. You know, there's positives and negatives to every single one. Pirelli can bring whatever they want to each race track, I think. It's up to the teams to make them work and to not lose the life and to not ruin the tire. So for me, Porelli shouldn't do anything. If they want to bring that softer tire, go for it. If I want to keep the same compound tire, do it. But please, for the love of God, don't bring a harder compound tie to ruin what could be

another incredibly exciting Grand Prix next weekend. Harry, for the 70th Grand Prix race, do you think that they should change things up? I'm kind of inclined to agree with Sam here. Yeah, if the teams are taking the tyre too far because they're trying to make it go to the end, that's on the teams. The only one that would concern me potentially is that Kofiat won

because I'm pretty sure that was a tire failure. And as we saw, that was a humongous shunt. But hopefully that was a one-off and not due to wear. I can't imagine it's due to wear because it was so early on the race. So, yeah, I think it'll be fine. I was just checking the weather forecast for next weekend. And Friday is set to be 32 degrees in Silverston, as is Saturday, and then 27 degrees on Sunday, which is a solid 7 degrees hotter than today.

So soft attires on a hotter day or hotter weekend, in general, could be very spicy indeed. yeah i'm i'm with sand there these ties we've seen it before at 2017 i'm pretty sure Ferrari had the same issue like the left fronts went on both cars um because they're trying to take those those ties too long so um yeah i think that's on the teams as long as it doesn't you know impact the safety and they're not tires kind of exploding like they did on kofiazka um towards the end of the race they would just let it go because they just were done so i think as long as it's that sort of thing, then it's okay.

And what I would say to these tires is, if I was driving my Volkswagen polo, which is an amazing car, by the way, if I was driving my polo and the car told me I've got 20 laps, sorry, 20 miles of, yeah, I don't, I don't usually go racing in it, unfortunately. I've got 20 miles left of fuel and I end up going 35 miles and I break down. I don't immediately start shouting about the fuel not being good enough. I shout at myself being a bloody idiot that I haven't gone and fueled up, which should be the same case as the tyres. The tyres have a lifespan.

You have to adhere to them. And if you don't adhere to them, you have to accept the consequences, which will occasionally be punctures. tire management. I've said before, tire management, people hate it. I think it's a great point about racing. And I think we've seen it again today. The guys who were able to manage their tires well were rewarded and those who weren't have come away empty-handed

or in some cases lucky not to come away empty-handed. Silverstone, they should go with what they're planning to do for this next race and go softer again. And if it forces two stops and three stops, That's not a bad thing. There is no rule against pitting twice, as the F1 grid may sometimes need to be reminded. Go and make a two-stop strategy work. Albin managed to make it work to a degree. Yes, he got a little lucky, but he ended up finishing about four positions higher than he would have done if he'd stuck on that one-stop strategy. And yeah, this is what we want to see. If you've got someone like Sergio Perez, who probably would have loved the race out there today,

If you have someone like him who feels like they can go ahead and do a quick one-stop strategy, let them go ahead and do it and let him make him in a position where he's unsure whether that's better than a three-stop strategy or a two-stop strategy. Keep with the tire compounds. Don't relent because of these punctures. It's exciting racing. The teams are inclined to go ahead and make that extra pit stop. So keep everything the same.

Good stuff. Well, again, let us know what you think. Facebook, Twitter. No, we don't do Facebook, really. Instagram mode. YouTube, of course, subscribe, like, get involved. That was a mental, mental Grand Prix. There's another one coming up in a week's time.

Could be more excited. Yeah, absolutely. And we will be back for the preview of the 70th anniversary Grand Prix. That will be with you on Thursday, and we will review the race this time next week. But until then, Sam, if you should, get us out of it. Yeah, if you're interested, Lewis Hampton's just passed Jim Clark. can win the Centres, which is amazing after doing 250 Grand Prix.

In the meantime, join us for more great content. Join us for the British Grand Prix next week, for over 70th. Remember all saying happy birthday, folks. It's going to be crazy, we're going to be here in the meantime. I've been Samuel Stowe. I've been Ben Hockey. I've been Harry Eat. And remember, keep breaking life.

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