The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Late Braking F1 Podcast: 27/09/19

Episode Date: September 27, 2019

The Russian Grand Prix is upon us, Ben and Sam are on hand to preview the race and give their bold predictions. Plus, the guys have very strong views regarding reverse-grid qualifying races. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Find the biggest voices in sports on the Sports Social Podcast Network. This winter's Ashtia series is lining up to be one of the most exciting inner generation. Get all the latest reaction immediately after all five of the test matches on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast with myself, Gazerana, former England cricketer Mark Butcher. Search Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Sport Social Podcast Network. Biggest voices in sports on the Sports Social Podcast Network.

Like me, Simon Hughes, aka The Analyst, and me, Simon Mann. We present the cricket podcast that gives you the real inside track and what's happening on the cricket field and off it too. We've got the sharpest insights and the craziest stories, and we're on the spot throughout the Ashes series. Search up the Analyst Inside Cricket and listen wherever you get your podcasts. 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. This is the late breaking Formula One podcast. We're previewing the Russian Grand Prix today. Samuel Sage, I'm Ben Hocking. Just for two of us, unfortunately, Harry Ede has got better things to do with his life. We can make it if we try then. We can make it if we try.

Of course, I'm sure we will fill the time. Got plenty to talk about. Later on, we're going to be talking about Toto Wolf, making comments that LeClaire and Vettel at Ferrari could be the next Hamilton and Rosberg, where the reverse grid qualifying is a good idea to set the grid for the race. But first of all, we will get into the Russian Grand Prix. It's a double header, and we will get into the preview for that. So Ferrari, three race wins in a row. unprecedented stuff, something that has been done in 11 years from their perspective. Sam, do you think that Ferrari are now in a position where going into a race weekend, they are the team to

beat? Well, first, I just want to commend Ferrari and their efforts over the summer break. It's like when you went away from school in year 11 and you had your summer break and you turned up at college and that one guy had grown like six inches and he had like a beard and you're like, whoa, what happened to Jimmy? He used to be a dweeb. Now is massive. That's like Ferrari. They went into the summer break. Oh, we're Ferrari. And they've come out like,

all right, we're Ferrari. And they are immaculately quick now. Genuinely, I think it's going to be a bit harder for them in Russia. Russia suits the Sees especially, but Red Bull, it's definitely a strength of them as well. That mid-cornering speed is something that the Segas have just perfected. Plus, the Sees have an art

of coming out of mid-corner speeds onto straight and maintaining speed. They are really good deploying speed halfway through. Was Ferrari are fantastic at deploying speed from literally zero to 100. They are fantastic in acceleration. I do think it's going to be a little more tough for them this timeout. But I do think Ferrari are actually the team to be. I really do think they're going to be strong round here.

They seem to have nailed the aerodynamics and the shatty, which is fantastic to see. I think the championship is unfortunately still over. I don't think there's enough races left in it. But I do think it could get close if they manage to somehow bring home a couple more one-toos. And who knows? I don't care if LeCore a better win, a combined Ferrari effort maybe to stop Mercedes overall. It could happen. I think they've got a good chance here. Yeah. And I think from Mercedes perspective,

even though they have picked up a couple of wins recently, they haven't won a race dominantly for a long time now. And it's something that is complete alien to them, considering their performance in the hybrid era. even in 2017 and 2018 when Ferrari were competitive, Mercedes was still taking race wins consistently. Ferrari never went on a massive stretch where Mercedes couldn't touch them. Even though Vettel was well in the championship hunt,

it was still very much a case of Hamilton win, Vettel win, Hamilton win, Vettel win. There was never really an instance where Ferrari were the dominant team. But we are heading, we are heading at least in that direction. I don't think we're there, but Ferrari have really turned. up recently and Singapore was a massive statement for them because we were all expecting them to be good at Belgium and Monza. Whether they were going to win or not was another matter, but we knew they were going to be strong and competitive and at least up there with Mercedes and of course they did end up winning both races. But like I say, that was expected. They walk into Singapore.

We said it on our podcast. Many people said it as well. Experts within F1 that Ferrari, because of the weaknesses of their chassis would not be able to compete to Singapore. And what did they do? Even through practice, I look like being the case. What do they do? Saturday, they turn up in qualifying. Sunday, of course, the nature of the circuit, they're able to hold position and finish one too. But one thing that I think has gone completely under the radar here in terms of Ferrari and why they have returned to strength is because of strategy. They have nailed their strategy recently, which is something that they haven't done for a long time. Mercedes and Red Bull have consistently outwitted them.

But the last three races, you can make a case that they have gained points at all three because of how they've done the strategy. If you go through them one by one, if you look at Spar to start with, you might look at Vettel and say, they pitted him so early, they lost him a podium, which is probably true. But at the same time, they gained Leclair a win. Because if Vettel is not out there for that one lap ahead, of Hamilton, he probably catches him. So instead of a first and fourth, you're probably

looking at a second and third, in which case they're gaining a few points there. You look at Monza, Leclair, they decided to put them on the hard tires rather than the medium tires like they did for Hamilton, ended up being the right call. Singapore, they turned a one-three into a one-two. So you can see all three races, they have directly gained points because they have been on it strategically. Yes, of course, the car has been better than it was earlier on in the year. but a lot of this, I think at least, is down to them having their head screwed on and working out how to maximise their performance over a weekend. Yeah, completely agree with it.

And I think they flustered Hamilton and Mercedes. I really do think that Mercedes every weekend are coming away going, they were better than us. We need to be better. We need to be better. We're not hungry enough. And this is Hamilton's strong point of the season. After the summer break, the first five or six races after that summer break,

Hamilton manages to ramp it up every single season. It just suits his driving style of these tracks. fast corners, heavy braking, long sweeping bends, Hamilton is so good when tracks are like that. Ferrari had broken the ducks back, so to speak. You know, it turned up and right at Mercedes's strongest point, they put their foot down and gone, no more, Mercedes, we're going to take the lead here. And if they can bring that forward, and there's a lot of tracks that are similar to Belgium, there's a lot of tracks that are similar to Russia, you know, if they can capitalize on

tracks that have got good, big speed corners, they've got straits that you can actually ever take on, and not too many slow, twisty, turny corners, like they may be able to do now, we could still see a fight on our hands, but I generally think that the way they need to do now, maintain this pace, and then go into 2020 screaming. They need to be able to capitalize on this momentum,

and they need to stop when the Sega is the absolute strongness. It's flipped this season. The Segas was stronger in the second half, Ferrari were maybe a little bit stronger in the first half last season. It's completely flutes. But has it happened early enough for there to be a changing of a championship? I don't think so, but I do generally think the Ferrari could challenge,

next season if they maintain the strategy calls they're doing and the development initial. Because the engine unit is perfect. You don't need to change the power unit. It is fantastic. More reliable than the Mercedes in terms of B team drivers and more power. So they're doing everything so they're on the right track to actually bring something home. Yeah. And I think they do have a good chance at Russia this weekend, even with Mercedes historic dominance there, because they have managed to solve this issue where they are so much slower in, say, one sector or even two sectors, like they were earlier in the year. Even when they weren't winning races early in the year,

they were at least strong in one circuit, the circuit which didn't really have any corners on it. And that's why we expected them to win at Spar and Monza. They were so dominant in Spar in the first and the final sectors, in Monza pretty much everywhere. And when it came to Singapore, it was only natural to think that, okay, they're going to drop back a bit now

because they haven't got that straight line advantage. There just aren't enough places. around the circuit to really make that count. But they managed to work it out that even though they were much stronger in the first sector, they didn't lose a lot of time or in some case even gain time in the middle and final sectors. These sectors like the middle sector in Belgium, we thought they were going to be a destroyer for a circuit like Singapore. But if they have worked that out, that opens up so many opportunities.

If they can nail the final sector in Russia, which is a bit more difficult going through some low-speed corners, they have a really good chance of winning. Same with Mexico in the middle sector. Same with the US in the first sector. Same with Brazil in the middle sector. If they can manage to even be as good as Mercedes in these tough parts of circuits, their power unit will allow them to win races.

So it's going to be fascinating to see how many they can take. Just focusing on this weekend, like I say, Mercedes, they five and O at Russia. I think there's a serious chance they take that away. Yeah, I completely agree with you. I think that if we just focus on this coming race weekend, I think Ferrari just have that momentum. Lecler is on absolute raw pace, rapid speak.

Saturday he is breathtakingly fast. And I think he's going to come back to rush with a bit of hunger after what happened in Singapore. Vettel found his feet again, takes the wing, did relatively well in qualifying, kept up with his teammate, and once again, use that wise old Hedgavis to deliver a quality result. And I really think that the pair of them are working, Well, yeah, there's a little bit of kind of, oh, you know, griping between them and who gets what.

But it doesn't feel like it's a personal thing. It feels more like it's a team thing that they're working through together. You know, those first, oh, what, like growing pains. Ferrari are going through through growing pains by bringing a young member and they've still got better who's leading the way. It's tough for them to deal with, but I think they're doing it well. I think they're doing it very well. And I think the way they work together at the moment, very much such a strong chance of possibly even taking a one-two this weekend. Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see.

that. Red Bull, of course, all of their cars this weekend are going to be taking penalties. Kaviat, his home Grand Prix is going to be at the back of the grid, but Vestappen, Albin and Gassley will all be taking five-place grid penalties. So Vestappen, theoretically, going to start somewhere between 6th and 10th, you would imagine. Do you think that Vastappan can play any part in this Grand Prix? Of course, we did see him make a very good recovery when he started towards the back. Did he start at the back, actually, last year? He managed to make his way through the field. Will he do something similar? If the staffer has one trait, this is better than all others. It's his ability to pass midfield runners and bat markers. I think he's just ruthless when

he does it. He knows he's got the faster car. He's fantastic in breaking zones. And he just has no fear when it comes to being wheel to wheel. So I think if actually they're strategic and they put him outside the top 10 somehow he gets those fresh tires. I do think that that Red Bull has the pace around here to get himself possibly on the back of a Mercedes or a Ferrari that might be struggling maybe with a power unit issue or

just some tyre wage due to the tyres being older. I think that the balls can get back up there again. Do I think they can have a chance that maybe winning this race for that five players grid penalty? I don't think so. Not that of Ferrari are that much stronger than they once were. I think if it was the Ferrari we saw in Hungary, there is every

chance that the balls could jump them. Not anymore. And the sages are just as consistent as ever. They're such a strong force in every department that unless they have a real cock up, unless someone crashes into someone and loses a bit of front wing, it's not happening. I think the best that the ball is going on hope for is maybe out of push a fourth or fifth, but more likely a fifth and six. Yeah.

And also on Mercedes, Valtrey Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, of course, had that issue in Singapore where Bottas was asked to slow up to allow Hamilton to get ahead of him when he came into the pits. Botas didn't seem too happy about it initially, calmed a bit after the race. Now we're heading to a Grand Prix where Bottas has historically been pretty good. Do you think he is going to take the race to Hamilton and the Ferraris? Do you think Bottas will be a factor? Bottas is always a factor.

When Bottas is on the form, when we do get this Bottas 2.0, Bottas the porridge destroyer, then there is every chance that Bottas could be the quickest man on a racetrack. His issue is his consistency. And much like porridge, it can go soggy pretty quickly. And I think that's what can happen with Bottas. I do think he's got this form around here. The pressure is on him to perform because people know how strong he is around here. And I think Mercedes might try and deploy the same strategy.

You know, if Hamilton and Bottas are closed together, I think they say to Bottas, back off your number two. Hamilton's still got the points to take the championship. The difference is, I don't think Bottas listens. I don't think he does it twice in a row. And I reckon if he's got the chance to pass Hamilton, he will take it. And you never know, this can spark some awful rivalry between them, but I wouldn't say no to seeing that, to be honest.

I wouldn't mind a bit of angry banter at the Mercedes garage. But I do think he's definitely going to be a rapid factor. This track suits in simply, he goes well round here. I really do hope that he brings it back. You know, the form that we saw all the way back in Australia at the start of this race. It's a very similar track in terms of the cornering speeds. I want to see it again this weekend. We've seen Bottas and Hamilton work so harmoniously over the years.

But you're saying that would be for the first time, that if he was asked to do something similar to Singapore, going to say no. Do you think Singapore was a turning point in that respect? The difference in call was appalling. Botas, we remember in Germany, Bottas was asked to move out the way for Hamilton. It was an honest call. It was fair. It was honest. It was to the point. Bottas was fully aware of the situation at the time. They essentially lied to Bottas in the car this time around. And you saw how angry he was when he got out the car. He was furious at the call. Yes, he calmed down. Yes, he was putting sensible head and I went, this is the best team in Formula Y and I'm still the

driver for it. I want this drive for more than a year, which is fair enough. He's got that to lose. But I think he's got to prove himself. Otherwise, he does get kicked out of that seat. The moment Russell is ready. And if he starts beating Hamilton by going, I'm not listening to team rules anymore. They're not helping me out and putting his foot down. I think he does that. Why would you not do that? He's a racing drive. That's at the end of the day he wants to win races. If he's always got a bow down to Lord Hamilton, it's never going to happen. So yeah, I think this is the time where he goes, no, Hamilton's fine in the championship. He's got a 65 point lead. My turn to take a win. Thank you.

Yeah, and from Bottas's perspective, he has been a long time since he took a race win, Azerbaijan the last time. So, yeah, it will be interesting to see if he can get back on the top step at Sochi. Going into some bold predictions, as we always do, Sam, what's yours for this weekend? This weekend is tough. It's really tough to come up with something we haven't almost said before, or that actually could be a little bit interesting. but I am going to say that there is going to be a collision between a Ferrari and the Mercedes. I'm not saying what drivers there will be, but I do think that either the Ferrari and the Mercedes will come together at one point or another, and one of them will end up D&F in the race.

It's fairly bold. It's fairly bold. For those two teams that are battling out front, we don't actually see it all that often where they do have a proper shunts. Obviously, there's a lot of argy-bargy, but not too many big collisions. completely different. I'm going to say that the top 10 are all going to be comprised of five teams. So five teams, both drivers from all five teams, who I think will be Red Bull Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and McLaren. I think all points will come from those five teams. Hold on, hold on. The Ferrari power unit is exquisitely good. Alpha aren't that far off. You think that the

likes of Renault get in over Alpha? Yes, I do. Yeah. I mean, Reno, you saw them at Monza. They were really quick. And they turned up to Singapore. And whilst it didn't quite go their way, and obviously Ricardo had that issue, they were quick. They should have both been in the top ten on pace.

So you've got two circuits, very different. They were competitive at both. And McLaren, they're right up there as well. They seem to have taken one step away from the rest of the midfield pack. Hasse have got issues, alpha are up and down. Toro Rosto have got grid penalties. I think this is the weekend where all points come from five teams.

Now, of course, a lot has to go right for that to be true. But yeah, that's not going to go for. Well, if that happens, I'm not going to make any silly bet, and we'll just congratulate Ben on being a very clever man. Yes, I don't think you're going to be getting involved in too many more silly bets in the near future. Pole 1, 2, 3. What have you got? Pole is going to be the young man from Monaco. So, Charles LeClair will place it back on pole.

He's almost the Hamilton of Alt now. He's just got such lightning pace on a Saturday. That raw pace is just magnetically good. It really pulls you into liking the kid. The win, though, Sebastian Vettel. I think second place, Lewis Hamilton. And then I think third place is going to be Valtrey Bottas. I think he'll recover possibly from being part of that collision that I mentioned earlier.

Interesting. Interesting. Does that mean Shao LaClair is going to be the one? want to DNF then. It could happen. It could happen. We'll have to see that. I'm interested in your race, if that unfolds.

Pole 1,2, 3 for me, I am going to only agree on one of them, actually, which is who's going to get pole. I think Charles LeClair will get pole, but I think he will return to the top step and take the win in Sochi. But I don't think there will be another Ferrari on the podium. I think it'll be Bottas in P2 and then Lewis Hamilton in P3. So we both think that one Ferrari is not going to be on the podium, which is a big call after their recent form. And realistically, Ham's form is league at the top, so it's relatively concise.

And Lecler could possibly really cement that third place in the table. Maybe take the fight to Bottas by the end, who knows? Yeah, that might be one to look out for, to be honest. We did a video on that a few weeks ago as to who's going to finish second. and the debate at that time was a bit more Vastappen or Bottas, but Ferrari are definitely getting involved in that one. So Leclair and Vettel, Toto Wolf made a comment about them. This is a real interesting one.

Toto Wolf commented about LeClair and Vettel and said that they were showing signs that they might head towards a Hamilton-Rosburgh relationship, which of course he has first-hand experience of. What do you read into these comments, Sam? and do you think there's any chance that a situation like that unfolds? I love the comment because it's just, it's just wolf poking. It's just having fun at going jab, jab.

You're doing well now, so I've got to jab. It's almost like a child hasn't been giving the first sweet for the first time in over a year, his siblings suddenly getting the sweets off of him. And he's go, no, mum, he's rubbish. I generally think that this is a bit of a faulty comment from Wolf. I think there's a poor call from Toto. So Hamilton and Rosberg are two incredibly fiery personalities.

If you see Rosberg's thumbnails on YouTube and you've seen the way Lewis Hamilton drives a Formula One car, then you know that they are both mad, fiery people. So I think that's why it's kicked off. Also, those two are friends from a very young age. I think they were Carter together around eight or nine years old. So they've known each other for a long, long time. And Formula One ruined that friendship. They hate each other now.

The difference between Lecler and Vessel, Lecler is so level-headed for someone so young. Yes, he's got a bit of a temper. but he's so controlled when it comes to that. And I don't think he sees Vettel as a direct nemesis, so to speak. I think he sees Vettel as a bit of a mental. At the same time, someone to beat, but a mentor. And also, I don't think Ferrari are in that position that the Savies were,

which is if I win the team battle, I win the title. Currently, it's just we're both going to finish third if we win. On the other hand, we've seen Vettel in a bit of a Hamilton-Rosberg situation. If you cast your minds all the way back to Vettel and Weber, we had the multi-21 situation, Vettel has got a temper. Vettel is also incredibly assertive. If Vettel knows he's right, if Vettel knows he's the better driver,

Vettel puts his foot down, and he's good enough to deserve to put his foot down. I think it's still a bit of a different relationship to that. I think Betel can hold his own. I don't think he's going to kick off like a bit of a child, like Hamilton and Rosberg used to do. I just don't see it going that way. It would be great fancy to see it go that way,

but I just don't think Ferrari are in the right position championship-wise for it to ever cause such a fiery spark. in a couple of years if they're both still there. But right now, I don't think it's going to happen. Mr. Wolf, this is not even subtle. Come on. I mean, it really doesn't take an inspector to go and understand what Toto's doing here. He doesn't care if they become the next Hamilton and Rosberg.

He probably doesn't even think there's any chance of that. There's only one reason he made that comment, and that is to poke, as you said, Sam, just to, you know, Ferrari have taken a few too many wins. They're starting to maybe jeopardize championship position. So Toto's responsibility is to go out there, defend his guys, and then just to try and poke holes in the Ferrari side. And he will do so with the relationship that the Ferrari guys have. There is nothing, nothing the same between LeClair and Vettel and Rosberg and Hamilton. Like you say, Sam, Rosberg and Hamilton knew each other for a long, long, long.

time before they got into Formula One. They went up in the same class at the same age. And when they were fighting for the championship, they were doing just that unopposed. It was Hamilton against Rosberg. Nothing else mattered. And they could take chances with one another. They could race, wheel to

wheel, they could be as aggressive as they like with one another because they know it doesn't matter if they have something like a Spain. It doesn't matter if they have something like a Belgium where they crashed into each other because they'll just make up the points in the next race. They had such a dominant car. Ferrari are not in that position. Ferrari are not

leading the championship. They're not even, they're not dominantly leading the championship. They're not leading the championship at all. They are currently chasing both of the Mercedes guys. So there isn't room for them to be confrontational. And besides, Leclair, young guy just come into Ferrari last year, Vethel, a decade older than him, a four-time world champion against a zero-time world champion. and there are completely different stages of their career, there is no way that they can become the next Hamilton and Rosberg. But of course, Toto knows, now that he said that, and it's a clever game he's playing,

because if Ros, sorry, if LeClair and Vettel have some sort of incident at the next race, or if they have some sort of argument over the team radio, everyone will go back to those comments and say, wow, yeah, Toto was on to something, even though he isn't. He knows what he's doing with this comment. he's a clever guy, an exceptionally clever guy. It's not a subject he cares anything about. All he cares about is the impact of what he's saying,

which is potentially negative towards Ferrari's push. Yeah, completely agree with you. It's just a ploy to unsettle, to ruffle some feathers, to cause a little bit of difficulty of what is incredibly motivated to focy garage right now. Yeah, he needs to find a way to stop the momentum. Of course, Mercedes aren't usually down for very long at all. switching gears to something that Ferrari and Mercedes are very unanimous on,

definitely in terms of Hamilton and Vettel. They made comments about this idea to have a reverse grid race, which will set the grid for the real race on a Sunday, essentially to replace qualifying in 2020 at a few select races. The idea is still in the works, but there is some confidence that it will get done. Sam, what do you think of this idea? I hit it

While the cars are the way they are We don't know about 20-21 You never know this could be fantastic But while the cars are where they are If it was a re-broughting next season It's a terrible idea The cars still struggle to make any overtaking It's not like F2 or F3

Where you can make a move at every single corner If you're good enough If you have the ability And you know the racing lines You can make an overtake You can't do that in Formula 1 There's every chance If they pick the wrong track

Or something happens that Hamilton Vettel, Lecler, Bottas, they're going to say, that's the back four, they move up two, three places. Boring, pointless. What's the point in it? The point of that race is to see reverse careers is to see the faster cars

desperately try and get through back to the front again. It won't happen in Formula One. The cars aren't made to do that at the moment. So I hate the idea. I also hate the idea of losing qualifying. I love qualifying on a Saturday. It's so thrilling. It's so exciting.

Even with the teams the way they are, if you never change the running order, I love going, is it going to be Hamilton? Is it Bottas? Is it the clerk? Is it better? Is it the staff? I don't know who it's going to be.

And what I count down the seconds as they get to the line. I'm there like, 1 minute 32, 1.303. 1.3. And I'm on the edge of my seat every single time. Why would you get rid of that? People love qualifying. And if the car's going to get closer, qualifying is just going to get better.

So if they're going to add it in as another part of the weekend, okay, cool. Make the main race a little shorter. Have a little extra race as a sprint race. I can get behind that. But get real qualifying and replace it entirely. No, thank you. That's got for me.

Well, this is, yeah, this is very interesting because you think it's a terrible idea. I actually think it's worse than that. Which seems unbelievable. You are right. It is an appalling idea. And I can't for the life of me work out who wants this to happen. Because everything I have seen is negative towards this. The drivers hate the idea.

it. Every driver that has been asked, Hamilton was a bit more diplomatic about it. Vettel just came out absolutely no concern for what words he was using whatsoever and he came out and slammed it as well. Every single fan that I've seen make a comment on it doesn't like it. I can't find people who want this to happen. So why are Liberty Media pushing it? I don't get it. They are trying to find They have an issue. They have a problem. And that is that the top three teams are so much better than everyone else. That is an issue in F1.

I think pretty much everyone would be unanimous on that. The question is, how do you approach that issue? Because they are approaching it in completely the wrong way. The way in which you approach a problem, say you have a tap that is broken. You don't go, oh, okay, my tap's broken. Better buy bottled water for the rest of my life. You get the cap fixed. Like, you don't find a way around the issue long term.

You find a solution to it. You make sure that the cars do have more of a chance to fight the top guys. That's the issue at play. They're just attacking the problem in a completely wrong way. I think it's a, I think it's a dreadful idea. And I even got onto the fact, like you said, Sam, qualifying is frilling. They seem intent on messing with qualifying. They did it with elimination qualifying.

You have to go a bit further back, but aggregate qualifying. Just keep it what it is right now. Everyone loves it. If you want to change it up slightly and maybe change the number of guys that go into the final qualifying session or make it four parts or make it two parts, I don't care. But the stage, the layering of qualifying and that thrilling rush to the line in Q3 is one of the best parts of the weekend. and in some dull races it is the best part of the weekend. So I hate this idea.

Don't know if that came through in what I was saying at all. Absolutely put it in, lab in. I'm a little bit unsure if you hate it, but I'm going to assume you're slightly negative silence. I think I'd even rather something

along the lines of, you know, we have four parts of qualifying, as you said, where the top five or six are all then left to do a raffle and you pick a number out of the hat and you get to do one lap, and you're on the track all on your own and you go

and then you've got to be knocked off pole or something like that. But don't mess with qualifying. It's wonderful. It's a brilliant thing that's been created. Please change the race or the aerodynamics or the driving or the cost caps. Do not change qualifying.

Leave it be. Thank you from late breaking. Very unanimous on that. Of course, we don't know what Harry thinks, but knowing Harry as we do, I think he'll be in agreement with us. Yeah. I mean, he'd come some very long way around of explaining his disagreement and then go,

I don't know. No, yeah, I hate it. But I do think he would hate it. Oh, he will love that bit. He will love that bit. Sam, do you want to get us out of here? Well, thank you so much for listening, for watching whatever available options you've chosen to view this LB podcast slash video.

I hope you've enjoyed it. We've talked some gongs, we've talked some debates. We'd love to know your thoughts on it as well. So where there are comments sections, please get down. and give us your thoughts on all the topics discussed because we'd love to hear them. If you haven't joined the video, then please leave a like. It will help us out massively.

And of course, if you'd like to be around for a much longer period of time, hit the subscribe button. It's love to have you on the ride with us. But until you join us in the next video, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.