The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Mattia Binotto is OUT at Ferrari!

Episode Date: November 30, 2022

We thought it would be quiet in the winter break, but no. Binotto resigns as Team Principal! The boys discuss and give their thoughts. They also review their Teammate Wars predictions to see if Harry wins finally, and also chat through Red Bull signing Daniel Ricciardo as Third Driver... JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAm SUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebraking TWEET us @LBraking BUY our merch: https://late-braking-f1-podcast.creator-spring.com/ SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal https://nordvpn.com/lbf1 Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!   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 tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. We're still... It's still November. We still got to do December and January yet. It's just still November, mate.

I mean, when this goes live, it is December. If you're listening to this whilst it's November, then you have literally just about caught it. If you're in the UK, I guess you've got a bit more time if you're in the States. This feels like a relevant chat. We've got Teammate Wars review. It's Harry's favourite episode of the year,

so I crack on with that. But within the end of November, we've had a lot of Spotify wrapped messages and graphics come in. It's been really great to see, isn't it? I mean, the fact that we're in the top 5% shared podcasts of the year, not just, you know, late breaking podcasts, of which there is only one, or, you know, podcasts that talk about sausages out for Gassley.

No, generally, the top 5% of, exactly, of all podcasts, and we're in the top 5% shared, and folks, because of you, lovely people, we are in the top 1% of technically followed podcasts in comparison to listeners versus followers. So, honestly, the growth this year has been absolutely crazy. I think 83% of you started listening to us this year. So hello, welcome. Thanks for sticking with us. Much love. Let's go bigger and much better fingers crossed in terms of quality of this show for 2020. I was just trying to find the yeah someone tweeted is to say that they listened to

128 hours of us this year that's a lot of time we didn't make that much content this year so you've listened to our entire back catalogue I struggle to listen to for an hour like that's my limit I am

go on Harry I was just saying I don't listen to podcasts on Spotify I use Apple sorry sorry Spotify so but the only one I do listen to is late breaking because I just check it goes live and often I just end up listening to us being stupid. So mine's a whopping 663 minutes. I don't listen to any podcasts at all.

Not even your own. No, good research, isn't it? I literally don't know how the podcast work. Also, 97 different countries, people listening. I would like to go the most obscure if you're maybe the only person in your country, like pointless, if you can ever seem pointless. Is it you in, I don't know what country you might be in, but Twitter.

Original as a reference, good. Yeah, good to say it. Very tall man. I'm not a very tall man. Great, good. This has got a bit off the rails. Anyway, worldwide, thank you. We love the support, bigger and better next year.

We continue, oh, we, still I rise, but still we rise. Hashton blessed. Yeah, like a liver bread. You still that. You won't mind. I reckon so. All right. Sure.

Thanks, Lewis. And for those of those of you. you that have only started listening this year, that probably means that if you started listening from March at least, you've never done an off-season with us. So that means we've got a lot of a lot of classic episodes coming, classic off-season episodes coming up, including today, which is Teammate Wars review. We've also got Matea Bonotto to talk about. Many thanks to Ferrari for putting out news on a Tuesday. Very much appreciated. We'll be discussing that a bit later on. But let's kick off with Teammate Wars. So what we're going to do, we're going to review our selections.

from preseason. We're going to look at the bottom half of the championship. Then talk Bonotto and maybe a couple of other things. And then we'll come back to the top of the championship to close out the show. So teammate wars, if you haven't been around this long, preseason predictions, we look at all 10 teams and say which of the two drivers in that team is going to end up with more points. This is something we've done in the form of articles a few years ago.

And now we've got a podcast. We're doing it on the podcast. We've done it for fun. years previous to this one. And I'm... Oh, sorry, mate. I hate this podcast. In five years, I have three wins.

I'm a bit worried. Sam's got two wins. So if he wins, we're level. So I've got three, and Sam's got two. And thank you for being here, Harry. Shut up. Shut up. He makes the same joke.

But... Maybe that joke dies today in Harry as... Sorry, it gives him so much joy when he does that. His face is giddly. Smogness. Nothing happens in my year that I get more pleasure from than that. Nothing happens in each year. This is it.

This is only thing you look forward to. So let's find out how we did. Let's kick off bottom of the championship, Williams. Just to say with our other championship predictions, we did make drivers, instructors' predictions as well. We'll tackle those possibly next week or on another episode prior to the new year. Williams, Albon versus Latifi.

Of course, Latifie had been there previously. Albin, new to the team. We won't labour on this one too much because I think it was a fairly simple decision for all of us. We all said Alex Albon. And we were all right to say Alex Albin. We all get one point. Four points to two.

Alvin took the win. Of course, Nick DeVries featured as well, but we don't really count reserve drivers for the purpose of this. So we all get a point to start off. Good. Alfa Tauri. Pierre Ghazli versus Yuki Sonoda. Of course, they were teammates last year as well. Pierre Gasly took the win. And again, it's full marks for the LB boys. We all said Pierre Ghazley was going to beat Yuki Sanoda, and he did so by 23 points to But I wanted to bring this one up for a bit closer inspection because Gansley exceeded 100 points last year. And Sonoda didn't get that much more. He ended up with this year.

The gap was far closer. Sam, were you surprised that the gap was this close? Surprise. Yeah, if you've said to me at the start of the season before, any racing of run, Gazley will only get, you know, less than half of what, you know, he got last time. And it'll be so much closer to Yuki. Yeah, way less, right? you know, is that what you'd expect to happen?

I'd say no. So I guess in theory, yes, I'm a little bit surprised. But when you evaluate the actual season and how results have happened, and the main point I think is where that Alpha Tauri car has sat in terms of season long form and how it's sat against the rest of the midfield, so regularly has it being, I don't know, the eighth best car on the grid. Pierre Gazile's also lost a little bit of that shine this season. I think he's being a bit demotivated.

I think he knows full well that up until he signed with Alpine, he was simply, a seat warmer and understood that the only reason he was there was keeping his Formula One career alive until he literally could get a lifeline from elsewhere outside the Red Bull family. And this is also the progression I would have expected from Yuki Sengoda, but to be honest, I would have expecting a bit more from Yuki. I don't think he could have demonstrating it as much as if he had the car from the previous year. The car this year was just simply not good enough.

So I think that's why the points aren't as great. That's why it's closer. The opportunity to score points is simply much smaller. this season. But I think it's positive for Yuki that he's made some in rogues, although I do need to see more from him next season. Harry, were you surprised at how close these two were in the end in terms of points? That is quite surprising, actually, because I thought Yuki still had a pretty crap year,

if I'm being honest. I think he had an amazing year. But then that probably, Galsi didn't have it, evidently didn't have as good as year as he did in 2021. So, yeah, I know we were all right on that one, but it was fairly close. So, yeah, it's a surprising one. Maybe Gassley has some bad luck, and so maybe Yuki can't remember now what happened. But it's great for a F1 podcast, mate. Yeah, brilliant.

You didn't even listen to podcasts. I don't know what. I don't need to listen to other podcasts and I go about F1. But yeah, it is a surprise. And if I was Alpine, but I'm not about to go trash Pierre Gasly's name, but if I was Alpine, you'd be a smidge concerned of your third choice, third choice driver for 2023,

that his rookie teammate who's not been that consistent was quite so close to him this year. Anyway, we'll see what happens in 2023, but it was, yeah, it's a lot closer than I. I had anticipated for sure when I made that prediction in, I don't know, Feb, when was it March? No, Jan. I don't know.

When do we do this? It wasn't January. I think it was February. We were together. We were together. We were together. Yeah, it was far closer than I thought it was going to be. Far closer.

And to be honest, the way that the first third of the season went, I thought this one might be the shock of the year. I thought this could go the other way. If you remember, Yuki Sonoda had a problem. pretty good start to the year. We were somewhat singing his praises about six or seven races in, which was a bad call because the Lake Breaking Hall of Famer clearly heard that and thought, well, these guys can't be right and decided not to do much for us to the year. Bear in mind that after seven races a year, Yuki Sonoda had 11 points. He finished the year with 12.

Nice. He didn't do much in the second half of the year. He scored one point after the seventh race of the year. He got us all in the first half. Not even the first half, the first third. Man took the holiday period. I'm really extending it. At that point, he was 116 up on Pierre Gassley. But from that point on, Gassley scored 17 points

and Cernoda scored a grand total of one. But you're right, this was in the balance because it was one freak result away from going the other way. Gasley had a P5 at Baku, if you remember all the way back to May or whenever that happened. That's a bit of a fruit result based on where that Alfa Tauri was throughout the year. If that doesn't happen, there's one point in it. So all it taken was for Sonoda to get that sort of result that Ghazli got a Baku in one of the later races of the year. And we know how much he loves the first and last race of the year.

So that was always possible. But yeah, I thought this one was going to be a landslide just based on where Gazley was in 2021. I know he was demotivated, but I think he was more demotivated than I thought he would be. Are you surprised, Sam, that they didn't take into account, Alpine, this is, they didn't take this year into account more than they have in terms of their decision. I think, funny enough, Gassel's history has bought him, not excuse, but kind of a, you know, a pass here. He's been shown to have a bad year. we saw the early promotion to Red Bull, and that didn't go to plan.

And then the moment he was put into an establishment that made him feel comfortable again, that played against strength, that he had a team around him that were good for him. We saw Pierre Gassi drive the literal wheels off of that Formula One car. You know, when he first went back to Toro Rosso as it was, and then which then became Alfred Tauri, the guy was incredible in that car. He had a couple of seasons, season a half or so, where he was immense in that midfield. And I think because of that, that bounce back, that return to form, it shows that he could do it again. I think there's a lot of understandable features about where he was and the atmosphere around him

and how he jelled with that Red Bull family after the incidents that went ahead. Why they might understandably go, well, we need a driver. He's very thoroughly qualified. And we've seen him have a turnaround in form beforehand. If we give him what he needs, there's nothing to say that he can't be the top version of Pierre Gazley again. And that's why I think he's been able to comfortably walk into a team as big as what Alpine is. What do you think on this one, Harry? Because I'd like to at least bring comparison to Daniel Ricardo,

where Ricardo has a number of really solid years and he has two bad years at McLaren and obviously can't find or doesn't want a seat for 2023. Ghazly only had one year rather than the two. But if Ghazley doesn't go to Alpine in 2023 in a bad year, do you think it would have been the same act as say, had on Ricardo, would two years be too much in terms of teams wanting to make that decision? Yeah, two bad years is not a good reflect. I don't know how bad a year this can be considered for Piet.

It was not great. We already mentioned that. But I don't know how much this would affect his standing in F1 this year. if he'd been beaten by Sonoda as he was being beaten in the first seven races, then that's a different story. As Norris has been, sorry, as Ricardo is being beaten by Norris. So, yeah, another if a year next year, like this year, maybe don't start asking a few questions. But again, if he's beating Ocon, the nearest comparison, as they always say is,

your teammate. So it's not a huge amount he could do. The Affatari clearly, they had some, there's some pace at some races, but they're not at others as well. So it was clearly not as good a car or a consistently good car as they had in 2021. So that's a contributing factor there. So yeah, I don't think it will affect him too much, but I wouldn't. To be, to be fair, if that was, if next year, the points margin between himself and O'Con, is the same as it is this year. That's a better year for Gassley in my mind. Sorry, Yuki.

But you'd rate Ockon above little Yuckey Sonoda. So I don't see if it's that close going to next year, I don't see it being a bad thing. I could be wrong with this, Sam, but I think you tweeted this out and I agree with the sentiment completely, which is that Pierre Gassley going into Alpine, going into this new environment,

is possibly one of the more. fascinating things about the 2023 season. It's going to be really interesting to see how it gets on. Let's move on. So we're two for two, all three of us at the moment. It's not going to be all perfect, folks, don't you worry? Shut up. It's going to go badly, very quickly.

Speaking of eighth place, Hass. Oh, yeah, I remember this one. Well, there's a bit of an asterisk for this one, because the question we asked at the beginning of the year was not who is going to win, Magnuson or Schumann. The question we asked was, of course, who's going to win? Schumacher or Mazapin, because at the time of doing teammate wars, it looked like that's the way it was going to go. Naturally, we all said Schumacher.

So in that respect, we are right because Schumacher definitely scored more points this year than Mazabler. Well done, Mick, well done. Just about. We didn't leave it there, though. We got the news about Magnus, and I think the week after we did Teammate Wars, because of course we did. And we essentially had the decision, stick or twist. Do we want to stick with our Schumacher prediction? Or do we want to twist and say, actually, Magnuson is going to beat Schumacher?

And there was a difference of opinion. Unfortunately for both Mr. Sage and Mr. Ead, they both stuck to their guns with McSumacher, which has hurt them here. And I've got to be honest on this. I was really on the fence and didn't know which way to go. about it and part of me only stuck, and part of me only went for Magnuson because both of those two didn't. But it's helped me out here quite a bit because he won, didn't he?

Oh, God. Look, well, it boils down to it, folks. It's a 50-50 decision and I don't know why we put any hope in me making the right call. Harry, I don't know why you agree with me. What a silly boy. Yeah, I think I was being more hopeful than anything else. Oh, Schumack a fan boy, isn't it? Yeah, never mind.

points margin to the Ghazly Sonoda one, 25 to Magnuson to 12 for Schumacher in the end. Aston Martin, they finished seventh this year. This was a clean sweep. So we said Vettel, all three of us said Vettel to beat Lance Stroll, which he did by 37 points to 18. Looking at Stroll, in terms of his record versus teammates, because he's pretty much been in F1 ever since we started doing teammate wars. And to this point, he's only beaten one. He's only beaten one teammate in a year. Every other year has gone down as an L, as the kids would probably say. Harry, do you think that this is because he's had some tough rivals?

Or it's just, this is just who he is. Who's he had as his rivals? 2018. So, well, big Sergey Sorokkin. Yeah, that's the one he won. Good. Okay, fine. So before that was Massa.

And then he had... Massa Perez and Vettero. Massa Perez, yeah, Vettel. I mean, look, those three are all pretty solid drivers, aren't they? Pretty all right of the F-1. Good observation there. It goes up in a trajectory on that one.

So, yeah, so he's had some tough opponents. At least he beats Sorokkin. Is a thing we can say? At least. What do you mean, at least? It's just like the bare minimum for a formula-old. Do you know what? To give a Lee of Tanya not answering your topic,

I think Sorokkin did deserve another year in F-1, but I agree with you. Yeah, well, you're not wrong, but we're not talking about that right now. I bro-em-up, but I'm going to talk about it. Yeah, look, he's had some, some tougher put. The thing with Lance is he has some flashes of pure speed and brilliant, and then other times he forgets where he is.

or that he's an F-1 driver. And that's just how, it's just how he, how he's, his F-1 career has been, hasn't it? He had some, even in his first year,

he was like third at Monza in really wet qualifying and then didn't really do much else. And then the poll in, in Turkey in 2020, we do see some flashes of brilliance from, from Lance, but it's not very often.

And the driver sees up against most of the time, Philippi Massa, Sergio Perez, Sebastian Betel. as I've already said, pretty good and pretty consistent drivers in F1. You know, none of the, well, Perez may be an exception, but Massa Vettel when he went up against them were not at the peak of their powers, but they were still pretty consistent experienced F1 drivers.

So yeah, I just think that's, he's had it toughish, I'll say. Probably could have been closer, but also I could, you know, you say those drivers, Perez Massa, and you think, well, they should beat Lance Stroll, which seems that sounds a bit horrible, but sorry, Lance. I think that's the way it is. Sam, do you think that with Lance Stroll and the number of years he's had, we kind of just know who he is right now,

and the record that he's got is an indication of that? The thing is, you're right in saying we know who he is, right? he's a migfield driver who is still learning his trail a little bit, because he's still so young, let's not forget that. I don't think he's actually reached his full potential. And there's nothing wrong with being a solid midfield driver, right? We speak very highly of a lot of solid midfield drivers. You look back through the years that we've spoken about Formula One,

the likes of Holgerberg could be described as a solid midfield driver, really strong, reliable, whatnot. And when you look at his history and you go, right, he went up against Massa. Okay, he lost, but Massa was in contention for a world title at one point. He's driven for Ferrari. He's a multiple race winner, has lots of podiums. It's considered amongst many F1 fans as a very good racing run, really talented. And let's ignore Sorokkin for a minute because he is the outline.

Look at Perez. Perez, I think for the most part, you would say, is a very strong, above average midfield driver. He was never going to be world champion, most likely. He was never going to be a, you know, eighth time winner of races. and we know that he's doing a good job where he is now, right? This is probably the peak of what we would ever expect from Perez. Great. And again, you'd expect him to beat Lank Stroll,

who's that solid big field driver. And then Vettel speaks for itself, four-time world champion, even though he's, you know, is dying, day in Formula One. He's still got the raw talent to beat Lance Stroll. The issue for Lank Stroll is he is not yet a solid midfield F1 driver.

The level of danger he is brought to the field already this season, in the season that you would expect to him to be the most calm, considered, confident on the road, you know, able to make those choices properly. He still isn't doing. You think he got past those basic fundamentals of racing now, and he hasn't got there yet. So the fact that he beat Sorokin, who, you know, was also very, very young in his career when him and Strull came up against each other. I think, yeah, okay, it's actually not a bad job for him.

But I do think that Larns is not reaching his full potential. I do think that Lance is lucky that his father owns the racing team. And I do think he's been giving an infinite amount of years to just keep racing. If it was anyone else, I think they'd be out of a drive by now. I don't think it's really, really been good enough. So it's what we've come to expect of him. It's who he is. And he's almost the luckiest man in Formula One.

You know, there's others who have more talented, who have earned it more. But in terms of just luck of being born where he was born, Lankstrel really takes the cake. anything else, EBO. Also, did you know that Sirotkin's retired from racing

and he's now the head of the Russian automotive federation? Did you know that? What a bizarre story. It's only 27. He's the same age as me.

Well, crazy. As head of the Sergey Sorokkin fan club. Yeah, of course I knew that. Well, very good. I'm glad we've got two heads of fan clubs on this podcast.

Yes, of equally great drivers, I would say. Yeah, look, we know who Lanchdoll is now. And you say, he's not yet that solid midfield driver and he is still young. But at this point, I don't see it happening.

I don't see it happening any further than where he's at right now. Put this into perspective. We had a discussion on Mick Schumacher and whether he deserved a third year in F1 on last week's episode. And I brought up a couple of names that we had similar conversations with as well, which was Jervinazzi and Yuki Sonoda. If you were to add the careers in terms of length of all three of those drivers, you get the exact same number of seasons that Lance Stroll by himself has done.

He's had seven years now. I think we're just aware of where he is. He is good enough to not be embarrassed. He's too good to the point where he's an embarrassment to Formula One, but he's not good enough to be any better than, say, the 14th or 15th best. driver on the grid. And that's okay. That's just where he's at in terms of his overall ability.

His teammates have been pretty tough. You know, Sergei Sorok can be in the toughest of that. But if you look at the other three as well, Perez, he faced Perez in his prime, for sure. Both Vettel and Massa, I think, have more name value than they were tough tests for Stroll at the time when he faced them. in that both Vettel and Massa were about 10 years past their prime when Stroll got to face them. So they sound possibly a bit better than what they actually are in terms of this discussion. So to be honest, it's a good thing we're not doing qualifying wars

because he didn't actually out-qualifies Sir Rokkin, so he's never out-qualified a teammate in his career either. Yeah, because he's the LAP-1 Merching. He does it on purpose. Oh, yeah, sorry for good about that. So, yeah, I, you know, again, he's not an embarrassing. He's not Latifi level. He's not an embarrassment in sport. He's not stumbling around at the back.

But he's not good enough to progress further than where he is at the moment, at least in my opinion. If he wasn't a paid driver, he would never get another driver at another team. That's, I think, as simple as it was. If he wasn't a paid driver, he wouldn't have made it past 2019. Well, yeah. I don't think anyway. last one just to round out the bottom half of the championship this is a fairly quick one alpha Romeo this was actually ended up being the the biggest percentage points difference between

the two drivers botas beat show 496 we all said botas so I think for the first half we've all done pretty well there you see that because you're winning me exactly you're always going to say that we that's the only one you know the house was the only one that any of us got wrong the rest of than we were all good. Move on, Mr. Five for five. I told me about it. Shut up, Ben, because you know the exact winner of this already. Can you put this together?

You're the one that's got it all down there. We and Harry are furious over it. We are... We hate this episode. Shut on the table in the air. I do have to say at this point. I do have to say I literally don't care. Okay. Let's move on. We're going to go to a break.

As you're probably very aware by now, we're massive fans of the F1 and live sport generally. Sam, do you ever get frustrated that you want to watch a live sports event, but it's not available in your country? Why, yes, Ben. That is a frustration. Wow, that's where NordVPN comes in. With NordVPN, I can switch my virtual location to a country that is showing what I want to watch. That way, I don't miss out and can watch the action live. And that's not all. That's right. We know that cybercrime is a worry for many, and not everyone has the time to become an expert in the field. Fortunately, NordVPN is a one-stop shop for all things

cyber security that's easy enough even for Ben to use. With my NordVPN account, I can have up to six. That's right, six devices protected. I no longer have to worry about hackers, malicious sites, and pop-ups. For the price of one coffee a month, I have complete peace of mind knowing that my devices and data are protected. Grab your exclusive NordVPN deal by going to NordvPN.com forward slash LBF1 to get a huge discount off your NordVPN plan and four months for free. It's completely risk free with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee. So that's NordvPN.com forward slash LBF1 to take advantage of that discount. All right, Mattia Bonotto has left Ferrari. I'm not sure if it can be classed as surprising news, but it is clustered.

good news in that it was done on a Tuesday so we can discuss it on our podcast. That's what you should have done, Daniel Ricardo, honestly. So I think speculation started about two weeks ago that he might be on his way out. That prompted Ferrari to give him a vote of confidence in a statement saying the speculation was without foundation. And keeping with tradition, Ferrari were wrong on that. And it was announced yesterday that Bonotto had resigned from the post. he'll still be on the job until the end of December

and Bonotto who's been at the team since 1995 has been in that role since 2019 so are you surprised by the announcement Sam is this a good thing for Ferrari no I'm not surprised I think a lot of people were calling for Bonato out and I actually think when we used to make YouTube videos we did a video on Bonotto leaving

and that was what, at least a year ago, I think we made that, if not longer. He's been under some pressure for, I would say, a good 18 months. And let's be honest, when we saw Ferrari start picking up wings at the start of this season, we all thought, well, hang on, he's done something here. It's been turned around. They're on the hunt for a title, the first one since Kimmy Rikingen in 2007, let's not remember, and they only got that out of a little bit of luck going their way. So the fact that they could be of their first title in Nyeong 15 years was looking good.

And then they so quickly threw it away to the point where Mercedes almost overtook them at the very end of the season really shows you the absolute internal collapse, the capitulation of Ferrari. And Benotto going is, okay, it's a symbol movement, right? It's a first step. But as much as I think Bonotto is the face of the failure of Ferrari over the last two or three years and he has not capitalized in what they should have succeeded in, I do not think it is enough just to go, Bongoso, you need to leave. The single team principle is not the failing of Ferrari here. And that's been proven by all the other team principles we've seen,

since I would argue Jean-Tart was there. They have not come close to achieving what the Schumacher era achieved. And that's because internally in Ferrari, right at the very core, there is a problem. There is a cultural problem. There is a talent issue. they are not maximizing something and not bringing in the right level of talent and the right people to ensure that the culture, the company and the organisational workings of Ferrari are winners

and are set up to be champions and I set up to fight to the death in Formula One like the Sege's, like Red Bull are set up, that cut-throw attitude. Ferrari just don't seem to have it. So while Bogoso should go and I'm glad he is going, I think that is the right call, it cannot just be Bigotto going. I also think they've absolutely shot themselves in the foot because I think Bogoso was also their technical director who was entirely in charge of their engine department. And that's what Belato has always been

very good at, is the technical side of things. And that's why I've always been great in a straight line in pulling out horsepower out of the engine, sometimes maybe not by the book, as you might remember, Spar and Monsa last year. But nonetheless, sorry, no, it's all locked away in the vaults of Formula One.

Yeah, nothing came out of that. No, nothing at all. They've got to find someone else to do that job as well. So maybe this might start a bit of a cultural shift. They haven't replaced a lot of the top spots. So there's been rumors of Bonasor going elsewhere on the grid and taking some key person with them. God bless any team that has to take that entire team on board because that's, you know, that's a shocker.

But nonetheless, this is the right thing to do. But it isn't enough just to let him go. There needs to be a full redo of that team internally from top to bottom, I think. Harry, were you surprised by the news? do you think this is a positive move for the team? It was surprised you two to know, and the listeners, I was actually on the fence about this.

Oh, what a shot. No, right. I have come to a conclusion, but initially I was on the fence about this. Because I am not, and I know the other day I said, we said about this about Goodthus Steiner, but he has been there a while I've not done a lot at Haas.

but I'm not a huge fan of like the conveyor belt not picking on football here but football style just get rid of No it's a good analogy Get rid of your boss, get rid of your manager I'll be watching a World Cup mate love it For sure, Harry literally doesn't understand football Does not walk out of his

Yeah, that's it Yeah I'm not a fan, I'm not a fan of that I don't think it's always the solution and I was drawn to, Sam's already mentioned him, John Tot. I was drawn to John, what made me think this is, I think, Autosport tweeted the last five Ferrari team principals and how long they had been there.

Obviously, the last few have not been there for a while, a River Benet, etc. But Jean-Tot was there from 1993 to 2007. But they didn't win a, well, they won the first constructors in 99, and they won their drivers in first drivers in 2000. So six to seven years before that success came. So I was thinking, well, have the Ferrari, we've talked about this big plan. They're going to get there.

I was like, have they, is this premature? And I was thinking, it's just unfair on Bonotto. But what has swayed me in the direction of, no, it's a fair, it's a fair cop is he had, he's been there since 2019. and yes, they've got the car to a place where it was quick enough to win races. But the rest of the house is not in order. It's like you've been asked to clean the house

and then your parents come home and only like one tiny cupboard is cleaning. Everything else is on fire. Nothing else like strategy, pit stops, etc., etc., etc. It's all a mess. So he's had all this time to build them up. But, and this is where the Jean-Tock comparison comes from, at least when Ferrari got that,

they may not have been quick enough in 97, 98. They just missed out on titles, but at least their house was in order, whereas Bonotto's not been, not been able to do that. And they were battling until the last race. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, so, yeah, I think it's a fair court.

And Sam's right, it's not, it's not just Bonotto. so it's deeper, it's more ingrained in Ferrari things that need to change. Because the car's almost there. It's the rest of it. But obviously Bonotto was the person running the show. So you've got to punish someone in that sense. So yeah, I felt sorry for him.

And for, you know, people might not realize. He was there in the Schumacher, John Tott winning Ferrari days. He was lower down, obviously. but he was part of it. So easy to forget that when people are having a popper old Matty Benotti. We're not going to call him that.

Brilliant. Matea. He's a lot of success for Ferrari and won a lot of races for them, but I just don't think team principal was ever his forte, unfortunately. I think you're right on that. And I mean, I was very wrong on that

because when Areva Benet left, I said, I think Bonotto should do it. Bad call, Ben. I'm going to call you. Bad cool, Ben. It's interesting that you use the analogy of tidying the house. Very similarly, I was going with the analogy of you've been asked to paint the entire house and you've just done like one little bit of one wall. But essentially, the analogy is exactly the same. And I think we're all on the same page here. I wasn't surprised by the announcement. As soon as Ferrari said that the speculation was without foundation, you knew that the speculation was not without foundation. And it's tough to know exactly whether he left by his own volition or whether he was pushed. I'm leaning towards the second

of those two options, but we'll never truly know, I guess. You look at where Bonotto joined and you look at where he's left, and that should tell you whether this was a good choice or not, because has he left the team in a better position than when he joined? No. And has the interim time between the first point and the last point had some success? No, not at least in terms of Ferrari language. You know, we had the Ferrari chairman came out a week or so ago saying that second, place is first loser.

So it's very clear that there was no, they weren't happy internally just because they'd got second place this year and they'd improved on where they were last year and the year before. That didn't mean anything to them, nor should it. They've got such pedigree and such resource to the point where second isn't a target the Ferrari

should be looking at. But Bonotto, Bonotto came in as the team principal when Arriva Bene, if you think back to 2018, Ferrari weren't quite able... Is that the microwave?

The bloody microwave every episode. Every time, man. Lauren! Laura, you... Go have your dinger cold. Give it safe. Just give Lauren food poisoning from a lot of... The podcast comes first.

Yeah. Yeah, if you've been back to 2018, Ferrari were in a pretty good position. They couldn't wrestle the championships away from Mercedes in 2018, but they were somewhat close. And maybe I'm being too harsh on Vettel, but a lot of it was inflicted by the drivers

in terms of why they weren't even a little bit closer to winning championships in 2018. And if you think 2022, it's similar in that they are second place, it's similar that they had an early challenge that faded away, but it faded away more out of the team's inability versus the drive.

I know Leclair and some. signs made mistakes here and there. But if those mistakes weren't made, they're still not winning the championship, right? So I think this was far more on the team versus 2018, which was of Riva Benet's last year. And you're right with what you say, that it's been a bit of a carousel when it comes to these these team principles. And I don't think that a change here is going to, it might be a small part of the answer. I agree with that.

But is it the overall answer? No. If you think about Christian Horner, like Christian Horner has been in his post for the duration of four or five different Ferrari team principals now. Like, 2007 he joined? 05, I think. 05.

Oh, yeah, it's five. It's five because it'll be, yeah, it's John Tot. Exactly. Fno de Manicali. Don't forget Mattiachi was there for two minutes. Like, yeah. Yeah. So they need some stability at the top.

I would absolutely agree with that. But I would also agree with what you say that it's not the complete answer in its own right. There's got to be more done than just that. There are institutional, structural issues at Ferrari that have to be addressed before they can even think about winning a championship. And I hope that they aren't just making this decision

that from a public-facing point of view looks like a lot. I hope they're not just sticking with this and they're actually going further and really analyzing what went wrong. And from Ferrari's perspective, I don't think they've lost a great team principle, but they have lost a fantastic employee. I've always been a fan of Matea Bonotto in terms of what he does well, which is, as you say so, the engines. That is what he does fantastically well.

And he's been at the team for over 25 years doing a great job. And now, you know, I don't think going back into, you know, maybe it was an option to lose the team principal status and just be the technical officer again. I don't know on that. But they haven't, like I said, they haven't lost, I think, a great team principal. But that doesn't mean they haven't lost a great employee. So it's Ferrari, I didn't think they would be able to make me angry and make me laugh in the off season. But they've somehow managed it again. So well done.

Good effort, guys. but ultimately yeah I think that it boils down to he joined as he joined team principle when Ferrari were a distant second and he's left when they're a distant second

so it's no real progress and in the middle of that they had a season where they finished sixth so I don't think the results add up you do the math you do the math people who replaces him son this is a question

that we should not be asked, but I think it's a fair discussion point because anyone we say we'll just definitely burning a pit of flames because we back to them. Three names come to mind. One is, right, here's the problem.

Already, Harry's fire alarm. You know, we've already, I've got three games and they're going almost a structure of, most likely, a bit speculative, absolutely no chance, but I want to see it happen.

So we'll start with the obvious, and that is big, big, Big Freddy Vass, right? You know, we love the Vaseline man, the Vassir. You've got to actually explain who that is, because you just said big, Freddie Vassir, the current Alpha Amo team principle. The guy has done, I think, wonders with teams in the past.

The way that he, you know, did the likes of stabilising Salba for so long and did a really, really good job with keeping them competitive. The way that he's turned around Alpha Romeo, I know they're not, you know, breathtaking. I know they're not absolutely groundbreaking now, but he's done a good job with the team that's had very, very little in terms of that funding and that ability. And I think he's also very, very good with drivers. He's very good up maintaining your relationship with drivers. And I think because of the relation that Alpha Romeo have with Ferrari, he would understand their culture and their internal workings. So I'll also be able to put his own stamp

or authority on it. That would be my first point. Now, we're going to play a game of names that Sam will pronounce incorrectly. Oh, God. There we go. So, yeah. Chopier, boy. Bui. Anyway, so, right, I'm even going written out in front of me to make sure I say it wrong.

So the current team principle of Prima, we were discussing Christian Horner and the way he was plucked out of the lower regions. I think it was F-3,000 at the time that he was taken to put into the Red Bull, right? And look at him, you may despise Christian Horner as a person, you might, but there is no denying that that man

runs a highly competitive and efficient team and he gets the most out of the areas that he needs to do. The man is ruthless and that's what Formula One needs. He does a good job in that sense. So Angelo, now, Rosen or Rossing. I don't know how it said. Is it Rossing Ben? I don't actually know.

I know that's the guy, but I don't know which pronunciation is right. Well, feel free to tweet me and tell me I'm wrong on which one it is, but I've been aware of him for some time and he's one of those people that when you just learn about Formula One in the lower region, you just get obviously know these, well, you say you know these names. I know that he exists. I don't say his name. Anyway, Prima is an absolute powerhouse of the lower regions. He has been so instrumental in building that brand. And Prima Ferrari have very close ties. You see a lot of Ferrari junior drivers sitting in that car as well.

So I think if they wanted to go a bit rogue, that's not a bad shot, but they have to give him time. They have to let him put his story on it and develop something properly, I think. Now, the final one, which is astronomically stupid, it will not happen, but I do think would be brilliant for Formula One and Ferrari, quite frankly. And he's already publicly said that he's pretty much not going to do it. Bring Ross Broad back, you know, getting back in the team. Let's make sure that old Rosie Broad can have some fun again. He was always great at Ferrari. I know obviously he had Braun. What a success story. He's proving he knows how to build a winning mentality.

Getting back in for a good decade. I'd love to see old Rossi B back on the grid properly, not just because like FIA role.

He likes sprint races his mind's gone. Give it to Brony till end of season. Give it to Rossi B. Just a side note to add a fourth name in there.

I believe Arriva Beneh just left Juventus. Yeah, I'm not sure how legit that is. Why would they... Like, it's Ferrari.

No, mind. Hey, nothing's off the table. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. I could be the same principle. Well, slow down. Yeah, I think ultimately, it probably...

I'm not saying it doesn't matter who it is, but what matters most is how they let them govern and how they let them rule over their kingdom, right? They can't keep the handcuffs on whoever gets into this role. They have to... whoever they are, they need a vision and they need the support from Ferrari in order to just go and do it. And it might not work, but, you know, is that any better or worse than what's going on right now? They just have to give them the freedom to operate in a very similar way

to what Red Bull do with Christian Horner. They just let Christian Horner go out there and fulfill what he believes is the vision for the team. And it works. And I think they need to do the same thing here. You know, if it's big Freddie Vass, which seems to be the number one option, maybe, or whether it's Jean-Pier-Jabwe, it doesn't really matter as long as they're able to get that clear vision and see it through.

Do you want to do it, Harry? What do, what, do, what, gov and Ferrari. Answer the question, mate, you know? Yeah, well, that's why, you know, obviously, it's stumped. Sure, I'll give it a go. Why not?

well what could that you know I yeah be fine so to debate with himself over whether I'll answer the question is a good idea do you think Freddie Vass has done enough at Alpha Romeo

to be in consideration for it I yeah I was I'm unsure because he's not been there a long time to be fair but big

big Freddie Vass is is very highly rated isn't he around around the F1 world and I think he has done a good job with Alpha, Amaya, considering constraints on budget,

etc. So yeah, I think he seems like the logical option, which makes you think that they're not going to give it to him. But there aren't many other content. I mean, the Ross Braun one was another one that sprung to mind for me as well, Sam. I don't see him.

Give the man a break. I know Ben doesn't like him anymore because it's sprint races, but he just wants to retire. He's done a lot. Like, it's won quite a few things. Then managed F1, probably just wants to put his feet up, to be honest. Leave the man alone. Oh, God. Sorry, Ross.

If you're listening, but she definitely are. We're very sorry. I would have been sorry a few years ago before you introduced sprint races, Ross. Sorry, washed. Oh, God. Yeah, Freddie Vass is probably the obvious one. Ross Brun, if he wasn't going to go and retire, In a few years' time, I know it's been said a lot, some ingest,

but I do think Sebastian Vettel would be really good at it. I just think he's got the mental capability. It would be interesting, because it's not like a common path for, like, really, I know Christian Hornet raced, but like I'm talking race, race, race like Vettel did. upon things. Yeah. Sorry,

I mean, you know, it's actually successful. Kabayashi's team principal, Toyota really, so, Alan McNish, Al-Mannish, but you know,

it's not, it's not natural, but I just, I just think, I'm not, look, Seb retired for a reason, not to just come back

as a team principal, but maybe in a few years' time, I just think it's a, it's a, not an obvious, but a really good fit for him. I think,

he's got the know-how the capability. He's got the know-how of the team, doesn't he? And they could do all the things right that they didn't do when he was there, like strategy and other things. So. Ferrari need to go out, poaching. They need to go out and start doing what Red Bull did at the end of the hybrid era, and that was poaching the best talent from all the top teams.

You know, they started nick in Mercedes engine, and he's left, right and center, and now look at that engine. It's sublime. So Ferrari need to go out and do that. Get a few eggs. Go poaching. Get a few eggs and go poaching. No better way to wrap up that topic.

Brilliant. Not at all. And we will be addressing Mathia Bonotto, obviously, joining late breaking and it becoming late Bonotto. At the end of the podcast, we'll go through our question of the week that does relate to Mathia Bonotto. We're going to take a short break. See you on the other side. I love poached eggs. Eggs of all kinds, mostly.

Very good. I make the best fried egg you'll ever add. What's a big claim. All right. Before we get into the second half of teammate wars, just a quick nod to Daniel Ricardo. We're not going to give you too much time, Daniel, because not that we don't necessarily like you. It's just that when you announce news after we record episodes, we really frown upon that. But it has been announced that he was back at Red Bull in some capacity. So not as a reserve driver, but as a in some sort of test capacity, media capacity.

it's a little unclear exactly what he's going to be doing. But Sam, are you happy to see him back in the Red Bull family? I've just punched the microphone there, so I'm really sorry if you've all heard that. I'm furious. No. Honestly, I tweeted before this was all happened, and there was a conspiracy theory going around. Well, I created the conspiracy theory.

It's my fault. Two full hat song. I'm starting it. The beef with Perez was brought tonight. So over the winter break, they're going to have a fallout, and then they're going to put recover. in the second seat again because Max loves him. He definitely played the game now a little bit more, I think.

He gets along so well of the likes of Christian Horner and Helmut Marco. And I also think he's got a couple of years under his belt more so than Checo does. I'm not entirely sure why I think that, but I just do. I think in an environment that suits him where he's allowed to experiment with the car, he'd be able to, you know, fulfill a bit more of that second role duty. Anyway, I'm glad he's technically in Steel Formula One. He's still around. I'll see Daniel Riccago's lovely smiling face.

I still don't think this is as good as getting any kind of drive on the grid, even if it's a one-year deal. I don't really know what the purpose or longevity is for him, or what the long-term goal is for him, unless he's got something up his sleeve that gets him that red bull seat. Other than that, I don't know what the plan is. But I'm glad he's not just completely gone. I think that's good.

I mean, I would have said, like, two months ago, that this sort of move, I don't understand it at all, and I don't understand it at all, and I don't think serves him well, really at all. However, I guess that the Perez and Vostappen tension to close out the year does help him a little bit if he can squeeze in there somehow, you know, just egg them on a bit to the point where they... Curacy theory grows, folks. Exactly. And Daniel Ricardo is the type of person that would be standing on the edge of a fight going, go on, he said this about you yesterday. He did. Whispered in his ear. Yeah. He would be well. Could you a little punk?

ski ski ski sweat I can't believe the word punk has come up on the podcast that's great Max check I called you a little punk Adam

he did did he Oh no he'd be Australia only Max Checo called you a little punk Your little whippus chippa Your little whippers skipper Wow That's a frown

Anyway I thought law mowers Leave Brendan alone yeah there was a point in there somewhere yeah fair play too I think for Red Bull this might just be a bit of a to be honest a media decision more than anything which I don't blame them for

Daniel Ricard I give Ricardo respect I agree with you Sam I think it would have been better for him to find a drive but I give him respect for having the guts and the I don't know to go back there to go back to where he left four years ago, it hasn't gone very well for Ricardo.

It's gone very, very well for Red Bull and Vastappen. To be able to swallow your pride and go back there and say that this is still the best move for me, I don't mind that that's happened. I think that deserves respect. Any thoughts on the Ricardo situation, Harry? Yeah, he obviously didn't want to drive in the lower teams. That's clear. but so this is the best of a bad situation for Daniel Ricardo.

Hi, I'm skeptical as to where it could lead in terms of an F1 drive, but Nico Hockenberg's just landed a drive. So, and he's been out since 2019, or the end of 2019. So, admittedly with some with some standings in between. So you never know in F1. It could still lead to a seat back in the fold. I doubt it's going to be a Red Bull, but weirder things have happened.

So the problem Ricardo's got is now that he's got nowhere to, the lasting memory of him, recent memory of him is his time of McLaren. And if it gets to a point where Perez leaves, like retires or is forced to leave Red Bull, the last thing that Red Bull are going to think about with Ricardo is, yeah, but well, he had a pretty terrible run in 2022. That's the last time he was actually competitive in an F-1 car.

So that's that's an issue for him. He's not he's not got another chance to, he does as much sim testing whatever as much as he wants, but it's not going to get rid of that sort of sour, sour taste that's left after this year. So, yeah, and I agree with you, man doesn't care about his pride. It's just, it's incredibly brave to go back and, like, he's not admitting his wrong,

but it is, isn't it? He's made a mistake on that one, or his management have. Shouldn't have left. But maybe he shouldn't, I'd seen a lot of things about him shouldn't have left Red Bull and, you know, evidently,

probably should have stayed. But I think the big mistake was, was signing, leaving Renno or Alpine McLaren because what did he gain? That was such a sideways move that I don't know what he gained there. So anyway.

He's so driven by name is, I think is Ricardo. I think he's so driven by the brands that he's associated to. And I think McClara is such a historic name that he thought, hello, opportunity there. That's a huge name. And I think if suddenly a Ferrari came up or whatnot,

he would be drawn to it. I think that's how his brain works. Not bad thing. I think that's how his brain works. Yeah. Anyway, well, good to see that it will still be around at least. Yeah. I mean, if I were you, Daniel Ricardo, what I would do,

and I know you listened to what I have to say very intently, I would absolutely when you're in the factory, log into F1 TV, and just make sure that on big screens, you're showing replays of races where you beat Max Verstappen in 2017 and the like. 2018 Chinese GP on repeat. Exactly.

Constant, like those last few laps. Exactly. Let's go to part two of our teammate wars review. We've already looked at the bottom half of the championship, and now we look at the top half. starting with McLaren. So this was a fairly comprehensive win for Lando Norris. 122 points, the 37 in the end was the difference between those two drivers.

That is a lot, isn't it? Yeah. The good thing for you, Sam, is that you did pick Lando Norris, so all is well. And I'm quite happy as well, because I also went for Lando Norris. Do Harry follow his usual curse of picking Ricardo? Hey, it's normally paid off for me, but that. this year he's uh he's he's he's he's done me dirty there or no oh no oh no gong gong gong gong gong um harry you went went for ricardo um unfortunately your normal tactic didn't pay off here

am i right yes oh no i'm not joint last anymore that is true you are not um i think the the ozies fans the ricardo fans they're going to appreciate you sticking by him even though it is cost you a point here. I wasn't going to win anyway, so what does it matter? Points. Well, with that attitude, you may as well, but you're the Areva Bena, your bloody predictions over here. Points mean prizes? No.

What do we win? Yeah, that's true. We absolutely fight for nothing here. Now to the team that beat McLarence finished fourth, Alpine, Ocon versus Alonzo. It was a fairly close one in 2021, and it was again a close one in 2022. Esteban Ockon winning this by 92 points to 81. So with the exception of Williams, which I mean,

they were fighting over really minor points, this was the closest battle on the grid. And it doesn't make for good reading because I went for Alonzo, which was wrong. Harry went for Alonzo, being the lead of the Alonzo fan club, he was wrong.

And Sam went for Alonzo. So this feels late breaking one of the lot in that we were all. wrong. It's almost like it's a bold prediction. It's the engine, really, in it? The Alping engine just doesn't like us. Because I think if it survives as many times as Ockham's had, we'd all be popping champagne bottles, drinking bub in the tub.

Bup in the tub. Drinking pub in the tub. Are you Brexit beef? Hello. A drinking pub. Hello. For Fingers. Brexit beef.

For Fiders. Oh, well. Fun fact about this one that isn't really that fun, but I'm going to say it anyway. That was Esteban Okon's first win against a teammate since his debut year against Pascal Verlain at Manor. That is a fun fact. I've had a lot of fun.

Pascal Verlain is equal to Fernando Alonzo then. That's what that means. Also very angry, just like Fernando Alonzo. Angry Pascal. Pascal. Pascal. It's not just me that can't say people's words. Like a fruit pastel.

A fruit pastel. Oh, I mean a fruit pastel. If someone can please edit pastel verline onto a packet of fruit pastels, that would be great. Let's go to the team that's finished third. Let's go to Mercedes.

Oh, skip Mercedes. Oh, come on. No, no, let's just see how we did because I think we must have all picked Lewis Hamilton because that was the obvious thing to do. I'm muting. Harry. It's walked out.

You know what? Fine. I'm not going to say anything on this. I'm not going to say anything on this. You're not going to say anything on this. Because I'm going to let myself from nine months ago speak. He's a bloody soundboard. Mug him off.

Go on. Please mug him off. Obviously, it will make me so happy. It would take away all the strongest if it doesn't work. Go on. You, you, you, I'm silly. I'm sorry. It's so worth it.

He's embarrassed himself. Are you lying barrage? I don't care that you pick George Russell. This is hilarious. This is a fucking sound form. Oh, God, do a bleak. He's, oh, I love it. God.

That was worth it. I'll drop it. I'll drop it in. Just, let everyone know how he's had to do it. And I'm thinking, do I need my signature clanger here? So for Mercedes, I am going George Russell. Holy cow.

Harry, I can't wait to be joint winners this year. Basically, you laugh at me. I'm laughing at you now. You're exchanged. Oh, soundboard. Oh, so fine. The people will have already heard this, but you, of course, wouldn't.

You say basically, I can't wait to be joint winners this year, Harry. Oh, no. Oh, that's such a smuggled little A-hole thing of me to say. Oh, I think I deserve that. That's great. So, yes. George Russell did end up beating Lewis Hamilton

275 to 240. I went out on a limb and said Russell would win and even though he'd be making me nervous towards the end of the year, he just about held it together. It should have been closer as well without that bloody reliability DNF right at the end as well. It was looking really tight all the way to the wire.

It might well be a discussion for a future episode who actually was the better Mercedes driver because I think it was a pretty close one to the point where... It's a fair debate. I don't know what I'm going for for 2020. three, put it that way. Let's move on to the top two. We said Ferrari with Charlotte-Clauer versus Carlos Sines. We did actually throw these out to the Discord as well at the beginning of the year.

And I believe on this one, Carlos Sines got more votes than Charles-A-Clair, which we disagreed with. And for once, we're smarter than the people because Charleclair did win this, 308 points to 246. But of course, Carlos Sines did win last year. So they're one-all-all-having into 2020. Sam, do you think that these two drivers are level based on that, or do you think that Charles LeClaire has more to take advantage of a race-winning car? I think that Carlos Sikes was spared some blushes by Charles LeCleur's poor reliability that mainly affected his car in the previous year. He had a very good year that first season in Ferrari,

but I think LeCler, if he finished exactly the same amount of races as Carlos Sart, would have beating him, maybe not by a huge margin, but it would have beating him. And then you get to this season where, you know, the championship has gone down to a possible race swinging car, where one-toes were possible, where polio finishes were possible. Car sizes wasn't there for the majority of the season. I don't think he was good enough. I would argue that he was possibly the worst driver out of the top six for this season. And I think that if he has another season like that, especially with potential, well, with new

management coming in now. He needs to push himself. He needs to show what he's got. Carlos Sines is a very, very good driver, but Charlotte Clare is a step above. And so Carlos Sides even needs to resign to being a good number two driver that helps the team, or he's got to prove that he is able to take home race wings

on a regular basis and lead that team to something new. Otherwise, I think it's time up for Carlos. I don't think he's got more than cut of the seasons left if it carries long as it is. I think, I think Charlotte Clare is just the better driver. Harry, do you think with the record being one all between them, it points to them being quite close, or again,

do you think that Leclair was just able to do more, that the car was better in 2022? I think I'm erring towards Sam, maybe not quite to the same extent, because I think we know the talent the Charles Leclair has, and I don't think that necessarily is, obviously for Carlos Lines' own, aspirations is not great but but for what

Ferrari need I think he's not far far off this year wasn't great it it it was up and down for sure obviously first pole first win all of that good stuff but but the the first some of the races in the first third were a shambles the man just loved to find a gravel trap I don't know if we remember that but he just he ended up in all of them and it was to be fair

to him I think he he picked himself up well from that because that's, you know, for a lot of drivers, especially at the high pressure situation that is Ferrari, I think a lot of drivers could have crumbled there and that his year could have gone from from bad to worse. So fair play to him on that, but he can't afford to do that again. Can't afford to do that to get here. Can't afford to do that again next year. Thank you. Words. Especially if Ferrari in a title fight. Because say, they had managed to keep it together

and not be all Ferrari about it those DNFs from Carlos early in the year could well have cost them something so Ferrari needed him

to not have that happen again but I just think LeCler probably has the edge over him and not that 2021 was a fluke but I think 2022 Leclair maybe had a slightly better year

not sure on that statement but but um it's close but i think i think leclair has the edge i was pretty vocal about 2021 how unlucky charles lecler was and how i thought lecler was the better driver in 2021 even though signs beat him and i think this year was a reflection of where the luck is evened out a bit more because whilst carlos signs definitely had his fair share of bad luck. If you think of the Austria retirement, you think about

Giorgio, pantano, punting him out in Austin after he got pole position. So he has had his fair share of bad luck. But ultimately,

I think Leclair has been the better driver. And if you think to some of the results, so Carlos Sein's got his first win, of course,

this year, why did it come about? Ferrari didn't nail the strategy of Leclair. If they did, Leclair wins that race. And I think that's more often than not been the situation where if everything goes right

for Leclair and everything goes right for signs, Lecler wins. And I don't think that's my opinion of Charles Leclair, God Leclair is very high. So I don't think that's dismissing Carlos signs in any way. And the fact that over the course of two years, he's definitely been competitive, says a lot about his talent. I do think he is a touch behind Charles Lecler. I think this year proved it, but it's far from an embarrassment

to be a little bit behind someone with the talent of Lecler. And lastly, we'll just quickly touch on Red Bull because as per usual, we didn't waste a lot of time, we didn't waste time really going through this. We all said Vestappen was going to win. And he did. if you remember, he won the World Championship. Did he?

Yeah, yeah. It was close, though. Yeah, I think Charles, I'm going to call it now, Leclerclair is out of the championship fight. Oh, man. Well done, Charles. Well done. Get it to go until the 30th.

30th of November. We haven't seen a fight like that for a while. That sounded like fart, not a fight, anyway. I haven't ever fart like that for a while. I know with you that's not true anyway, but... what you're trying to say, babe, slander. You know exactly what I'm trying to say. Let's just go over the final results very quickly

because it is proven when I am smug, bad things happen to me, so I'm not going to be. I managed to win. I got nine out of ten, and I hate Alonzo even more now because he costs me ten out of ten. Could have a perfect ten. I don't know if I haven't ever had a ten out of ten have week.

No, I don't think so. Sam, you got seven out of ten Oh no, no, no, no, no. Gary, we fought this year, well, we didn't, but it could have been your year. It wasn't, six out of ten. Oh, well done, mate. We go again.

We go again. We go again. Say less. And it does mean that my joke, my running joke of you never having one teammate wars lives for another 12 months. I'm hashtag team Harry next year. 2023 is your year, mate.

Are you going to donate points to Harry to let him win? No, don't be silly. If I'm winning, I'm winning. I'm still. So you're not that. You're not that day. If I'm out of the running and it's you, Sue, I know who's sign among it.

To be honest at this point, I think I'd be on the side of Harry if it was me against Harry. So let's just count out. So far, we've had our Fantasy League results. I've come last. You lost that one. of them through of us. And then teammate was also last.

So we're two from two. We've still got drivers and constructors to look through. So might be some better fortunes there. You tend to do all right on the contractors. Sure. Have I ever won one of them? No. Don't really know, to be honest.

No. We don't count that. Fine. I don't really know. I've had a look at the drivers and constructors, but we've got a few to decide because we vote for things like biggest surprise of the year,

which is a bit subjective until we have a discussion. I can tell there's already going to be a few disagreements about whether points are awarded or not for that. But let's get to that in a future episode. Before we go, Question of the Week. Oh, yeah. We put it out there with, of course,

Mateo Bonotto joining late breaking. Sounded to do the... Don't worry, I'm waiting. Oh, same. Go on. Here we go. LB Question of the Week. I love the harmonious.

that Harry provides. It's not a harmony. It's just alongside. Doesn't harmonize into all. Parallel. I actually posted

in our Discord the origins of that theme. It's of course completely original, but I posted the origin of the inspiration.

Yeah, we asked about Mateo Bonotto because with him joining late breaking now that he's not working for Ferrari

and us being rebranded to late Bonotto, what job should we have Matea Bonotto do here at late breaking. Were there any that caught your eye, Harry?

Well, very apt one here on Instagram from Grey primordial soup. That's a great username. They said, operating the soundboard because he's used to disappointment. Way. Way indeed.

Oh, another one from McKinley Braun, soundboard specialist. Maybe we can blame it failing on him too. Yeah, there was a lot of shouts for the soundboard which yeah as you say is even more ironic given this episode head spag bowl or spagball engineer the emphasis is on the spagg what on spagball oh god i hate it well i got he should so one said he should be harry's mentor advising him on everything from when and how to use the soundboard i don't do the soundboard that's ben's job

Maybe they're watching from like episode 50 or something because at that point you did do the soundboard. That's a very good point actually. Very good point. My favourite I think was from Instagram which was Steve-O which was question of the week. Yeah, that absolutely sent me. Witty, very witty. So good. But one I didn't appreciate as much was hair and makeup. What are you saying?

You can't even see us. We could do with some air of makeup, though. Yeah. Nah, we look. We look great. This is from Legend PPF underscore EU. The fire alarm battery replacement guy. Have a good week from Real Dad.

Wee. Oh, love it. Oh, we've gotten in there. I also, my Instagram isn't loading right now, but I did see someone say that Brasso should be in charge of pushing Harry off of the fence. which I quite enjoy. That was a great one. Cannot be done.

And then also... Potato beverage manager. Brilliant. Matt also said Sam's personal chef so he could chastise him for his food choices. Matea, you're as good asania. You're welcome.

I throw it in the trash, you dirty Bambino, and I will just make sad noises at Bogotto throwing my food away, which is... Bambino. Brexit beef management. Why?

I don't know what that in tears. She's off the rails. She's off the rails. Virgil on Twitter said that should be here to make bad decisions which is fair enough but I think we make enough of those already I don't think we need help on that

that's great Laurent said personal assistant to Keith the maintenance man and if the time permits feeding eating some extra sausages I saw him saying really nice in a lovely winter coat that he's got there

but he has noticed that the step outside my building has started to crack a little bit so he wants to get on it before someone slips and hurts Oh, good. Well, then Keith. Did he have any idea?

Did you know? At some point, yeah, like just split in the conversation. You'll never go. Did you know thousands of people get an update on you every week, Keith? He's so lovely. He's so nice. Oh, yeah, yeah. And a whirly bar manager.

Another Leo. I had one again before we started. Oh, good job. Good. Ian. Anyway. I want to say one more. Ian said Chief Engineer of Gammonfield Cornish pasties, which I'm not.

That's a sing and you should be chastised for that. I feel up. by that? No. No, that's it. Right. L.B. Question of the week. Genuinely disgusting. Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here.

Oh, well, thank you for joining us in the winter break as we begin the long, slow crawl through the dark days of winter until Formula One lights up our world once again. But we've got some good and interesting content coming. As Benz already mentioned, we have got the Constructors' Championship that we discussed as well, the drivers, individuals that we're chatting about. We've also got things like El billionaire that's coming up as a special. And we've got the Discord quiz that Ben is currently in the process of writing. Ben, remind the lovely folk, when is that taking place?

Oh, well, I'll let you know. It's happening on Saturday the 10th of December. I think it's the 10th. It's the Saturday. Cool. It's that Saturday. 8pm GMT, so 3 East and 12 Pacific, if I've done. my maths right.

Lovely. There we go. Good math. Quick math. We've also vaguely discussed having some kind of gaming night. No confirmed time yet.

We will actually put that into practice over the winter break. So if you're a bit of a game there or do some racing, probably on the F1 game, then, you know, keep your ears peeled. It might happen.

Otherwise, join the Discord. We've got merch available. We've just finishing the Black Friday sale where you've got free delivery in the US. And thank you to everyone that has picked something up.

It massively supports the show. And Patreon is there with extra benefits. You get an extra topic. You get ad-free episodes and there's discounts on your merch. That's the other thing I wanted to say as well. So, you know, have a little gang there. Everything that you give hugely supports and allows us to carry on growing at this amazing rate. Thank you so much for all your listening and supporting so far throughout the year. We've had a mega year, our biggest ever. It means the world to us. And we'll be continuing

on right the way to be Christmas into the new year. In the meantime, I've been Samuel safe. I've been Ben Hawking and I've been a freak pascal. and remember keep breaking late oh fruit pascal is pretty good go well with the biggest bag of chips that the soundboards ever sent me on

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