The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Our 2023 F1 Season Review

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

The LB boys recap and review the full 2023 season, running through the race calendar and talking through some of their favourite and forgotten moments... FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes JOIN our Discord community JOIN our F1 Fantasy League BUY our Merch EMAIL us at [e-mail]   & SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. Another treat for you, folks. All three members of Late Breaking here on a podcast that we run. How about that? Oh, he has dug it.

and we've got a season review to do today something I guess a little bit different to what we've done before but we're actually going to try and use our memory that can only go well some this is literally a minefield for me I have not got a very good memory and rely on you too heavily usually

so recalling facts I'm going to apologise now for how many things I might get wrong at least it's not a quiz or a competition this time hey you did very well at back and forth remembering Fernando Alonzo's wins so it's because it's Fernando Alonso that is ingrained permanently.

He was in all of these races. That's true. What great correlating factor that is. Some valid point there. I assume you're looking forward to being here again, Harry, twice in a row. Well, you know, I'm here for my once a month appearance now on this podcast. How much do we owe you for two? Because it's got to be going through the roof now.

My fees are quite extortionate, to be fair. Yeah, especially a double record. Pay you per episode, unlike being beg who are once a year. Can we pay you? just say as well now, because this is a double record, so we've just done Sunday's episode, folks. Obviously, you're listening now on Wednesday. FIA, if

you've done anything stupid in the meantime, I swear to God. We're trying to have a relaxing fun time looking back at a season. We don't know drama today, folks. But if the FIA does announce anything that is juicy news, I reckon we can pick that up on our

Patreon episode on Thursday. Wee. I'm getting good at this, folks. Three different tiers. Get on that. You can get your exclusive content. Now the FIA is not going to do anything, but never mind. Right. We're going to try and go somewhat race by race on this, some of which we'll spend a bit more time on than others, because as we were discussing before, we started recording, there are some races where not a lot happened. For all those that love the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, firstly, why? Second,

you're not going to be very happy with this, I'm afraid, because we are going to skip over that when we get to it. But let's start with Bahrain, when there was plenty of optimism in the air, particularly at Halpina. We're not going to talk about it. But there was also a lot of optimism at Aston Martin, because they put together a very good preseason test.

And the question was, going into the weekend, would that pace be converted into an actual race? the answer was yes. I mean, Sam, we're not going to go into best overtake of the season today because that is going to be an Elby Award. But that Alonzo move on Hamilton, it's gone to be a contender. Yeah, I mean, I'm still scrubbing to try and get clean after how dirty it was. It was, it was mighty, mighty filthy.

But that wasn't the only highlight that came from the race. From what I can remember, that included both Aston Martins. And I mean both Aston Martins, because Alonso was having mega-bron. battles. That battle with Hamilton, you know, where they went into turn three, and also almost lost the car and Hamilton ducked back under, and then they had that full battle through that sequence of corners. And it lasted

for a couple of laps, which was fantastic. Alongst also battled, I remember, closely with science, I think it was, and that a pretty big ding-dong. Obviously, to make a bit of progress. Yeah, it did well, he cut through the field well, but Lance Stroll also delivering some mighty fine overtakes of

battling, you know, the classic pit stop, overcut, undercut, we don't how the target of work scenario came into place. And Longstrow absolutely planted one around the outside of George Russell as well. So Ashton Martin were big surprises when we came to this season. I was so shocked to be like, oh wait, they are actually good. They were just not sandbagging and testing and delivered on both fronts. They were fantastic.

What did you make of that, Harry? Because it was a bit of a question. We have seen before, you know, preseason testing doesn't necessarily carry over into real season pace. but at least from the first race, it seemed like it did for Ashton Martin. Yeah, I think the Aston, there was a lot of hype, wasn't there? Especially in preseason testing.

And even in practice, like Alonzo was finishing P1 in practice, it didn't quite translate in quality pace, actually, because I think they were slightly disappointed. But obviously, in race pace, it was, Alonzo was on fire. And obviously, he got the podium. I've written little notes for each race,

because I went back and watched the YouTube highlights. Thank you, I for those, very handy. and I've written Alonzo's filthy move which already mentioned again, still trying to scrub to get clean.

Stroll almost killing Alonzo which I'd forgotten about on lap one. Yeah. Yeah. I forgot about that. What are you doing,

mate? Almost ended it, ended it there. And then the Aston Martin being made of iron because not only did Stroll almost he like whacked into Alonzo

and need the car broke. Later on as well, Alonzo trying to overtake signs. He hit him as well. But nothing, just iron girders. Ridiculous. And thanks. But yeah, I know obviously the snap and one, but it felt like that, that Bahrain race was the,

it was the, it was the, it was the, they were the big story of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the Sunday. It was. I feel like, to an extent it was a distraction story. It didn't intend to be, but it ended up being a distraction story because so much, you're right, so much of the focus from the race and that weekend was. this Aston Martin is pretty good. They weren't very good last year. What a turnaround.

Fernando Alonzo is actually going to compete for podiums. Meanwhile, the actual story was Vastappan dominated and Perez was a very comfortable second. And it was like, well, if that carries on, which it did, it might be a fairly processional season out front. It's a real metaphor to see one throw retiring, one friday fighting with Ashton Martin and Max Osteppen was 18 seconds up the road. It really capitulized the entire season.

in all in one moment. Yeah, classic Ferrari. They spoiled it because we could have had an interesting Leclair Alonzo fight for that last podium position. And Ferrari went, nope. I feel like we haven't had a lot of Leclerolozzo content. No, that's true.

Come on, Ferrari. Put it together for next year. So anyway, Vastappan took his one and only win at Bahrain. And we moved to Saudi... Oh, no, that's not how it went. Let's go to Saudi Arabia. So this was an interesting one where

reliability, at this point in the season, we were actually questioning Red Bull a little bit. And one of the reasons why was Vastappan in qualifying went out in Q2 because his car failed on him, still recovered back to second place. But if you remember, didn't really make any inroads into Sergio Perez

when he got to second place. They're calling Mr Street Circuit. Did you read anything into that, Harry, when we were there? In terms of the reliability. when we were there. Well, yeah. In terms of reliability for Red Bull and also in terms of Perez,

very comfortably holding off Vastappen. I think, yeah, we were potentially already clutching it, not clasping, clashing at straws. I'm splitting onions again. Splitting onions. Clutching at straws with a reliability thing because it was clear

Red Bull were that quick. I guess we were then encouraged, even though Vistappen fought back and very easily. Like, I've again forgot this. And it didn't seem to have happened so much later on the year, but the DRS advantage they had on that Red Bull. Man, when he flew past, there's a very flies, but I think it's on the sky commentary, flies past

Hamilton or Russell, this is Vestappen, and Martin Brunner just goes, what? Because it's so quick. It's like an F1 and F2 car, but yeah, so even though he, so he got back a second, Perez's performance was really encouraging because it wasn't like, it wasn't like Vestappen was miles behind. He was there, like he was behind Perez and Perez... About five seconds, wasn't it? Yeah, like he was soaking up the pressure.

So, yeah, I think the reliability thing maybe... It happened a similar way for Red Bull at the start of 22, didn't it? So we were questioning it then, obviously, didn't matter. In my head, did Red Bull in Bahrain also have some Gremlins? Obviously, didn't affect them? But they had some reliability gremlins there, didn't they?

So, yeah, I think we were desperate for anything to try and stop them, with it? yep and we had well Fernando Alonso claimed another podium but only after a bit of controversy with Russell actually getting it on track

if you remember oh yeah Alonzo on Lonzo had like the messiest race in human history and still finished third he finished third then wasn't third

did you remember the clip where something was going on in the background and then Alonkso was just spinning in the foreground and just kind of driving off slowly and like oh don't know me it's all the mistake that I made which is so

Fernando Alonso. But I think we all lived in a world of hope that it was going to be similar to the 2022 season. Remember when Red Bull had an absolute disaster reliability in the first few races and it was all unsure how well they're actually going to do is the weakness going to be the car. And then it was bloody bulletproof

forever and ever and ever. Literally, when the nuclear war doth come, there will be two things left alive on this planet. It will be cockroaches and Red Bull car. Because it is indestructible. Yeah, I mean, the Stafford once again showing his presence. But we were all living and thinking through that Sergio Perez was a legitimate side to continue at this point, right?

No. No, we did. No, I did not. I never believe that. It was sheerly. So, ringleader of the whole motive. He was really driving. And Harry and I were very much trying to bring him back down to her.

But, you know, he's spearheading it. He was full of helium. Couldn't stop him. He's flying away like a balloon. Alpine. send me for a bag of chips this year, but Sergio Perez, bag of nothing. Back of air. Alien, mate. Oh, I'm flying away. My, um, for my notes for Saudi, I've put strolls filthy, another filthy move from Master Martin around the outside, again, filthy. And then Yuki's yell.

Ah! Ah! That is one of my favourite ones with the entire season. I come up in the war ceremony. And all of our listeners regretting it as well. Thank you. Genuinely, as community moments go, you're all brilliant. That was great. Australia, I've just noted down, most chaotic, boring race of all time. Yes. Well, at least we had chaos at the very end with the red flag. But actually, the race wasn't very good.

Yeah. Sorry, Sam. Also, Sal, I just equated. So I don't know if you've ever had to go to like, like an under five's football match before, where all the toddlers can have run into each other and fall over a lot. but what you're watching is chaos, but it's also awful and nothing is happening. That is what that race was like.

They're all falling over, banging heads. No one scored a goal. No one's touched the ball in a while and they don't know what they're doing. And that is what Australia was like. My notes for this one are Mercedes being won two, which I completely forgot about at the start. Yeah. That happened. That happened.

Yeah. Lecler forgetting how big his car is, which he does once a year for some reason. and it was Australia this time, not Austria. And then Alpine lull. That was my last one. The crashes that we had in that first section were absolutely ridiculous. The one I remember, the thing I remember most from this race was actually Landstrol

because I might be getting some of the details slightly wrong here, but he had a crash, got away with it because of the red flag, had the opportunity to be on the podium maybe, going into turn three or four or whatever that turn is and then just decided no breaks no breaks also was it

was it Nick DeVries that absolutely punted someone right off of turn one just didn't listen to look at Logan yeah I think so yeah good job Nick oh god yeah it was it was not a great race

it was just chaos at the end wasn't it the last five laps yeah I don't actually remember any of the main Grand Prix I just remember the chaotic five laps of red flag crashing. Just the Alpine coming back onto the racetrack and then taking off your own team mate is pure Alpine, like as vintage. There's a shot of them as well because they're like they're crashed into the wall. And they've got like the same damage.

Like both missing a front wing, both miss both missing their front right tight. It's like they've had the same crash. And we're like here we go. The war is starting between Alpine. And it's fair. I think they kept it together for the most part. 2024 is going to be war mode don't you worry

The war mode Azerbaijan was next and as already mentioned not a lot happened LeClau was good in qualifying Vestappan and Russell had a crash in the sprint Perez was good and he won

Bekolling Mr Street Circuit Look at him working The title charge continues Legitimately thought it was on I'd say I was a fool There's nothing else I was so bad

Azerbaijan it was it was dull. That track is so confusing because obviously the first time we went there terrible, so boring. Second time we went there, chaos, brilliant race, loved it. Third time we went there,

also very, very good. Fast forward, one of those boring Grand Prix of the entire season. We thought, after Australia, we thought it's going to be more chaos. This is going to be brutal.

And it was so dull. And we had a sprint race there, didn't we? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well done, Chuck, for another poll, I guess.

we then went obviously the natural place to go after Azerbaijan is Miami before we go to Monaco geographically very close right it felt I know we've referenced this a few times throughout the year this was a bit of a kick in the tea for Perez wasn't it he he could have won this race with Verstappan starting 9th or back into the top time and obviously Verstappen overtakes him on track to win very clean overtake as well into term one. I don't know.

That was... That's where it stopped, right? Yeah. Two things, I've already mentioned one. One Red Bull DRS was mad because it was ridiculous there again. And then how didn't Perez win? When that overtake happened on Perez,

I'm surprised the whole world, especially in the highlights, it didn't just stop, go black and white and start playing Gary Jules mad world. That was it. It may as well. Was that gut-wrenchingly bad for Sergio Perez who have not won that Grand Prix?

Every card was on his side. Two other random things to mention as well. This was the race where Alonzo was watching Lance Stroll making overtakes. Hell yeah. A commentating on the right. Good move from Lance. Go on, Lance. And I remember qualifying, it felt like McLaren,

who will get to a bit later on when things get more positive for them. Qualifying here at Miami might have been like the lowest, point before it started to get better. I know it didn't. 20th and 18th. It was something all. They were both out in Q1 and it was just, the start of the season hadn't gone very well for them,

but they'd scrape some points at Australia. But it felt like this was like the real bottom of the curve. It shows you actually how quickly you can turn a Formula 1 season around. The fact that they went from that in Miami to, you know, Lando farting for a podium in Austria. There's not too many races. between those. Yeah, that is a big turnaround.

Yeah. We'll cover off Monaco before we go into our first break. Max Verstappen, he delivered a pretty good pole position, that, didn't he? Why was this race one of the races of the season, please? It was one of the best Monacoes of singing a long time. Like, actually good. I, wow. I know a compliment from Sam about Monaco.

I've written in capitals, if only they pit Alonzo for inters. right oh no yeah i think i think it could be uh and then i just put rain was chaos loll because it i forgot like everyone just forgot a mirror bow when everyone just slid off the run that shot of people reversing on reversing back onto track and stuff it was carnage also once again and i give full credits of monaco here but it just it was the epitome of why normal qualifying is sensational because that qualifying session might be one of the best qualifiers I've ever seen in Formula One.

I think I've tweeted that at the time. I think it's the best qualifying session I've ever watched. I might go back and watch it. Yeah, the Stappen's. I might just watch qualifying again. Yeah, rather than the race. The Stappen's lap was stupid. Nick, sector three, man.

You know, when people... I know. You know people go on about these big laps, you know, Senga at Monaco, when Hamilton does at Singapore, that I think that the Stappan lap might, join that group. Yeah. I mean,

maybe not on the lap, because he was down during the lap. It was just sector three. It's just disgusting. Just show the last 19 seconds. Yeah. Just imagine if we got that in races consistently. Goodness me. I forget in my mind how close he was to those walls in that final sector. And it still blows my mind the speed you went through there.

I think, and I don't give too much time to the argument. of, well, Stappen had the best car because guess what, folks, nearly all the time the champion has the best car. But it's laps like that where you just want to just show like, he could. Yeah, because I think...

He's got something. That, like, Ocon's lap was sensational. Alonzo's lap was ridiculous. And I was like, oh my God, this is it. Alonzo's going to be on pole. And then, yeah, he pulls out. Vesdafen pulls out of the bag. That was probably the one race, though,

that other than, obviously, Singapore, I think someone else should have won that Grand Prix. I think it should have been Alonso, but the door was wide open. And I feel like at that point as well, because this was still in the midst of Alonzo and Aston Aston Martin being good, I think we were just, I don't know, under the false pretense that that would continue throughout the whole year and he would get another opportunity or two and that it didn't matter that much that he, you know, they passed up this one. And then, of course, he never came.

He never got on a better opportunity. No. What might be sad is that might be the last chance of Lonzo will ever get. a race win. We might have just watched it come and go. Who knows? Right. This is a good point to take our first break. We've got the, we're getting into the European season right after this. Okay, welcome back in the first part of this

LB season review. We ended with Monaco, which means we're off to the Circuit to Catalonia for the new look, circuit to Catalonia as well. Oh yeah? Worth mentioning. Mercedes were on the podium here, both cars on the podium. only time they achieved that all year. They bloody love Spain. I have one note written out about Spain.

They are Spain merchants. I've just got George Russell, high performance athlete, sweat. But literally, like, that radio message will go down in the history of one of the best ring messages. Is it another driver's reporting rain, or is it just sweat coming off my visor? No, it's just you. Like, iconic. Oh, George. I also forgot that they tried to kill each other in qualifying.

They did. Ran into each other. That's so Mercedes. Yep. Picked up a double-fied. And then the other thing I've noted down there is, I had rain or sweat, question mark. And then I had Ocon trying to kill Alonzo, which I completely forgot about. The Lonso was trying to get past him.

And Ongon, like almost drives him into the pit lane. Yeah, he did. They hated. They do. It was so unnecessary. I'm like, O'Con, what are you doing, mate? It doesn't matter. Everyone else is like, come on through, mate.

Alonzo's by me. I'll get him. Murder. Murder. Obviously, the new slash old corner for the last corner is so good. I'm so good. So much better. I get that terrible chicane that we used to have.

Thank God that's gone. And it was one of the better Spanish Grand Prix we've had for a while. For I remember the cars go well around here. That's two or three. It's been all right. Yeah. I saw someone say that, you know, we've had this, we'll get on certain other time.

but obviously Madrid is confirmed for a street circuit. I don't know if Kata Loos used the race to get rid of at the moment. I hope that's not confirmed. My fingers crossed. 10-year contract. A Madrid night race? No. No.

It was, yeah, imagine saying a few years ago, Mercedes only double podium. Oh, sorry, it would get just one double podium in a season. I know. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. crazy indeed. So after the Spanish Grand Prix went to Canada, where Vostappan won by a slimmer margin than he was winning other races, but that was still about 10 seconds or so. Alonzo put a pretty good move on Lewis Hamilton from memory to finish second place. And I wanted to give Alex Albin some love on this one because he finished seventh and he just held up everyone.

That's the tactic. He did all year. It's pretty impressive, given the fairly lengthy double DRS zone that he could do that. Yeah, I want to talk about that move first from Alonso, though, because going down the inside of what was essentially the Wall of Champions to make that move stick was so unnecessarily brave and reckless at the same time. And it's so unlogso Hamilton. You know that they walked into a room afterwards and went, nice one.

You got me there. I get you back next time. We've given it to him again. honestly those two put on a show a lot of times this season and I bloody love it when they come together it's so good I think that was one of my main takeaways and it wasn't all the time but it's a it's a pleasure to watch those two I know they have all their dramatics but it's it's such a

I don't know a joy to watch them race each other because they're both such I don't know fierce competitors and one of my notes here was Alonzo's dramatic in the pit lane when they released Hamilton slightly in front of it when he pretended it was an unsafe and was like wobbling and then it cuts to Toto going like this in the garage with it

It's so good Toto shaking his hand Oh Yes That is so sensational But the pair of them are like Are both at it and you know We saw in Abidat and I'm skipping it

But Abu Dhabi when he was trying to He was trying to break so Hamilton got, didn't get DRS and all that sort of. It's just, it's, yeah, one of the highlights of the season, again, it wasn't all the time, but when they were battling, it was a joy to watch. Imagine them at the front again, one more time. I know. Come on.

Also, also my other note for Canada was DeFries being useless. Do you remember him trying to overtake the house? Oh, God. Oh, that whole magnitude of freeze. Oh, it was the worst crash of ever seen. It took so long. Nothing actually happened. And then they just like to reverse.

out together. Yeah. I forgot how bad that was. Oh, dear. Gosh, that was embarrassing. Really was. Right. Obviously, we went from Spain to Canada

back to Austria. That's how that works. Track limits penalties. That's what I've got written down for this one. Yeah. I put so many pens long. FIA were trying to keep up

lesson, weren't they? It was like as if you could speed or flash, whatever's name was, to keep up with the amount of track limitations that were going wrong there. I think, and I can't confirm this, Esteban Okon is still serving the amount of penalties not in that race.

I don't know if just check my watch. Yeah, still going. Still going. I also wrote down here if Spain, Mercedes are Spain merchants. Ferrari are Austria-Austria-merchants. I put Ferrari were good here,

Vestappen was better. Yeah. Because they were quite good, which I completely forgot about. Charlotte Claire remembered the size of his car because he obviously confused Austria and Australia this year It's only those two You can only

Anything that's a US He has a nightmare out apparently Also McLaren, the resurgence We finally got the first glimpse of the new upgrades Obviously Piastri still had the old car Norris had the new car And it looked like it was working Well I think that almost proved the point

Didn't it with Norris where he was Piahtry where he was To say ah yeah They workin That'd be working Yeah I feel a bit sorry for Piastri but obviously it's got to go on one car if they're making it quickly and it's it was great to see that we got that turnaround

because it turned into a brilliant contender for obviously the rest of the season that we'll get to. I'm glad that McLaren were there. This was also the weekend where it was the absolute perfect storm for Hasse because as we know there are two things that Hasse can't do, long races and tyre wear. So what did they do? They put on a sprint race at Austria and it was wet.

So Holkenberg was at, it was for a time. It was for a time looking like he was P2, yeah, yeah. Because I remember thinking halfway through this race, no offence to Nikkah Holcomberg, I really hope he doesn't finish

on the podium here because people are going to count it and they shouldn't. Yeah. Yeah. I forgot as well Vastappen and Perez were having a bit of a ding-dong

at the start of that, weren't they? They were. First lamp, yeah. Again, Perez still desperately trying to hold on to any chance of a title fight. Ooh. Bang fingernails

gripping onto the wall as for Stappen standing over him. Okay, from Austria, we go to Silverstone. Now, that actually makes sense. They're fairly close to one another. As you mentioned, Sam, Austria was the first glimpse we saw of the upgrades for McLaren with Lando Norris's performance. Here we had both cars with the upgrade.

Lando Norris second, Oscar Piastri Forth, both of them competitive in qualifying as well. I think we can probably at least say this one was the start of the proper McLaren comeback. How impressive do you think were the duo, Sam, given the first half of this year, Norris wasn't in contention for these high finishing positions. And Piastri, of course, had never done it in an F1 sphere before. Yeah, I think it was very strange roundabout way. Pistri was quite lucky that the McLaren was bad for the first five or six races of the season. And I think we've alluded to this on the previous show before, but it essentially allowed Piastri to get out any mistake. any poor running, any, you know, I used to get used to get my feet warm,

before the car was good enough to actually be the focal point of a Grand Prix. And then it comes around at Silverstone where he has got all the upgrades. And he's got rid of all his possible with Gremlins, you know. He's managed to put himself in a consistent, strong performance because he's like a bit of practice behind the wheel. And now he's at the front. And he delivered. Landon Norris did what we know Landon Norris could do.

He was sensational. I think, if my knowledge serves me correctly, he had to overtake Piastri on track. And for a little bit, it looked like Piastri was going to be the lead McLaren until the safety car came out and essentially caused Piastri to be not thrown under the bus. It's a bit harsh, but it backfired on them because he was, he didn't stop under safety car, did he really? And he got passed by, was it Hamilton that picked up the final podium spot? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Yeah, yes, it was.

So Piascri, of course, was so close to picking up a podium, pretty much on the first time of asking that he physically could have got near the podium. It was a fantastic run. and this was the dawning of what I think will turn out to be one of the best partnerships in Formula One. Piastri, properly introduced himself on the world stage, he did a brilliant job. Norris was exceptional and did what Norris does. And it just showed that you can turn around a Formula One team

with a snap of a finger. It was so ridiculously brilliant how quickly they became. I always thought that they could go on to beat Red Bull at one point. That's how quick they suddenly got. Well, they were the nearest challenger to Red Bull that weekend. So it's not a far stretch. The only other note I made about this race was the Norris Hamilton battle towards the anchors

Hamilton put on soft ties and Norris was on hard ties and Norris holding him off was pretty impressive stuff. Yeah, it was a great, great defensive performance. I feel like this result from McLaren's perspective might be one. If things go well for them this, you know, 2024 and going forward, it might be one that they look back at as like, I don't know, a fond one to remember where it started almost. Their season started at Silverstone.

It really did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Preseason testing was Austria. And then they nailed Silverstone. Nice. Now, for the love of God, McCarron, 24,

if you show up at Bahrain and you are 16th and 17th, I swear to God. Desert races, man. They can't do them. That's fair point. Very fair point. Right. So that was Silverstone. we then went to Hungary where we didn't quite have the race that we had a year before

because I think it was our race of the season back in 2022. We did get the return of Daniel Ricardo though, which was, I think from his perspective, he was never really going to be fighting for much in that race specifically, but it was exciting to see at least, I guess. He had a good quality, didn't he? Yeah, he got into Q2 and I think outqualified Sonoda. So it was a fairly good comeback for him. Obviously, he didn't have a disaster race, though, didn't he?

Like, not through his own fault, but he was part of the... Yeah. Yeah, at the start of the Grand Prix, and he had to drive around with some damage, which was a bit of a shame, but I think we can all say now we've seen the full season that Ricardo being in that car, pretty fair shout, right? The guy's still going to get it. Guy's going to pull out of performance. I wrote for Hungary, Hamilton Pole loses it immediately.

All that hype around the pole. Oh, yeah. And then Alpine Loll again. It wasn't really their fault this time, but still. roll. Yeah. Oh, God, yeah. Another double D&F.

Yeah, that was tough. Yeah, a couple of things from this race. Firstly, Max for Snapham might have been his most dominant win of the season.

Like, it was certainly up there. Can you imagine the heartache for some of those fans who are, especially those Hamilton fans who think,

hello, the goats turned up, is here on pole again. And not only did he lose it before turn one. I don't think he was even second by turn one. No, it wasn't.

And then Vostappen won by one of the biggest marches we've seen in modern times. It was, you know, a devastating Grand Prix for Mercedes. I think there was just, excuse me, there was so much hype around his poll, which was justified because it was a great poll app, and the thought of having Hamilton and Vastappen versus each other again, which we'd not had for a while. And it was all done. It was done in about 10 seconds.

Yeah. Yep. Good stuff. So I tell you what, we'll take our next break at this point, and then we'll go on to the Belgium after this. Belgium. Belgium. Go for a little spa break.

We'll watch by Belgium. Nice. Spar fronkins chops. Right. So after Hungary, Belgium, also known as spa franken chips. Sounds like a menu item. You could get at a restaurant. Yeah, I'll have the, I'll have a spanisham.

sparkling water and I'll have an aside of Spar Frankenchups please. A side. A side to go with these sparkly water. The sparkly water's always the name. Yeah, yeah, yeah. McLaren were very quick in the middle sector and nowhere else. The Piastri sector. The Piastri sector.

Yeah. They were banking on it because it was a rainy weekend, but the race wasn't. But they were definitely banking on it being a rainy weekend because Oscar Piastri was unmatched in sector two all weekend. It was like three seconds. It was stupid. It was stupid. It was a bit damp as well, wasn't it? Like some parts of the track were a little bit damp from what I can remember.

Yeah. But also Vestappan didn't start on pole. It was another sprint weekend, right? But Vastapham didn't start on pole for the race. Yeah, it was well down. Still won. Yeah, it was so good as well. Did he have a penalty?

Was it lap invalidated or something like that? Oh, I can't remember. Because it was a wet call off phone, right? I can't quite remember. Maybe I had a penalty. I don't know. I know Charles Leclair got pole and another Shao LeClaire pole to not win, but pole to max with the wind conversion continues.

I imagine the Vastappen must have been a pure pace because there was no engine part of that point that he would have taken to drop him to that number. No, I don't know what that was. It must have been pace. Doesn't matter because the points are on a Saturday. So they smashed it. Sadly enough for Shaul-A-Clair.

He's still held on for second, didn't he? Charlotte Glare in that one. But we also, we have a sprint Grand Prix here we did, didn't we? Yeah. And Diastri, again, looks phenomenal in that sprint grandprue. Yeah, he was,

he was runner up to Verstappen, wasn't he? And was competitive throughout. Yeah, until Sykes put him in the wall on turn one. Well, I mean, for the sprint, but yes, for the race itself, not so much. Yeah. I wrote two things here.

Sonoda did a, lovely it'll move around the outside of Alex Albon at Lecombe at the top of the top of the hill and then Ocon did it to him even better if you go back and watch that it's like Sonodas is great Ockons is disgusting is delightful I see your filthy move and I raise you pure disgusting yeah yeah it was a it was a positive weekend for Alpine overall actually because alongside that Ombar Safflauer and Alan Permanain both They saw Oscar Piastri get a sprint podium. Obviously, could have been an Alpine driver.

And that's after seeing Fernando Alonzo be very good all year. Yeah, that's where that's where their picture comes from with Piastri smile, talking with the points tally and Alonzo smiling in the background. Yeah. Oh, I can't believe we missed it. Austria, the bloody jetpack guy falling out the sky and Piastri's reaction on camera is maybe one of the best parts of Formula one I've ever seen. might deserve an LB.

Best reaction face of the season. Like, iconic moment already if you ever went to achieve anything. Zanvort. Oh, boy. Carnage, wouldn't it? Absolute carnage. I enjoyed it, though.

I put, yeah, people not pitting for some reason when it rained. Alonzo's lap one move when everyone went around the outside and he just did the inside because he just does the opposite at that corner. Yeah. Jop being second for some reason,

and then, not finishing the race. Oh, yeah, he was so good. And Perez leading by literally miles. I mean, Miles. He was so far ahead. It was so far clear. And there was a half was the one.

Oh, oh boy. But it was a good race. And Ghazley. Yeah, Ghazley got a podium. Come on, the sausages. Good Lord. It's like that as you will. Blimey.

I think that was, that was a bit of a needed race as well because we were coming off the back of a few. dull, pretty dull ones. The season very much felt like that. She came in waves, isn't it? We had a couple of bangers and then it dropped off.

And I guess that when you've got, a lot of people have stayed again, I don't know how you both feel, but when the title was decided so early, and we already knew at this point that it was ringing away with Verstappen, you have to have something else that makes it exciting.

Yeah. Do you also remember, in Zadvord, how bad Ferrari were? They were so bad. Liam Lawson over took Leclair? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, it's his first race, wasn't it? Yeah, brilliant.

Leon also brilliant. Of course, inspired by Lightning McQueen, his hero. And, oh, poo, what was I was going to say something absolutely brilliant? Oh, Lova Sartagant, got into Q3. I was going to say something, absolutely brilliant. And then, yeah, and then it promptly bid it twice. Yeah. So he did make it through to Q3.

Yeah, that was, uh, Williams, I didn't expect them to be quick that weekend. And they just were. They're weirdly good. And he confused me. so much. This is why I'm bad at predictions because I try and run on kind of run of form or characteristics that makes sense. So I thought

Williams, no chance they're going to be anywhere here. There's no point doing a bold prediction. They're almost on for a podium if I like at one point. That's how close they were. I feel like there was a runner that apart from Red Bull, that was everyone this season. There was no, the form book never made sense for everyone else. You'd go race to race and someone else would be

the second quickest. But that went, as you say for people Williams who would turn up so racing, well, they're not going to be quick here. And then they are. Because Alex Album was one of the drivers that just would not pit. And there were a few others as well, like George Russell was one of them

and there were a couple of others. But I feel like Album was the one that made it somewhat work. The others didn't. I think he stuck to it where others bailed out at the wrong time. But yeah, I remember thinking if he'd gone on to the same strategy

as Joan Gassley, that's probably P2. Yeah. Yeah. 100% and deservedly so. He was phenomenal on that race. And then because they were quicker there, Monsa was next and we were like, well, they're going to win it.

They're going to win, no doubt. Like, like, master corners. Yeah. They're already good at straight bits. And they did not. They did not do anything. I also had that race noted down as like a Fernando Alonzo, Aston Martin, like retirement tour in that it was like one last hurrah of,

that car before it was just awful for the rest of the year, comparatively. Yeah. Yeah. He was excellent in that race again. I watched that. He was on fine form. Yeah.

I know it came after a few like dodgy races for the Aston Martin. It's like, oh, maybe coming back from the summer break, maybe something. And then not really. But it was a, yeah, right, it was a great performance from Alonzo. Italy. Yeah. Ferrari qualified well. Vastappen won.

Not the first time we've said that. No. I have one thing written down about this one, which is other separate to the note that you led Ben with that Vesappan broke the consecutive win record. I just put that Hamilton forgets size of car and strove straight into Oscar Piaastri. Yeah.

Or just forgets Piazre exists. Yeah. That works either way, you know, just disappears. Ghosts. He thought he had ghosting on. That murk was rubbish as well. It was pants, wasn't it? Straight lines this year, not been good.

not been good of the old straight lines I haven't been good at straight lines since the new regulations came in really. Yeah, fair. It's valid. I had two things written down here. I remember this distinctly when Vestappen didn't get pole and he was the least worried man

in human history. He was so chilled about it and rightly so because he won. They had a bit more downforce on, didn't they? So they didn't chew their ties up. And then the other bit was there's some great reactions from myself and Sam, of signs and LeCleur trying to kill each other for about 10 laps at the end.

The stress! That was so Ferrari. It was so stressful. I mean, great battle to watch, but good Lord. Yeah. There were fewer Ferrari moments, I think, this year compared to last year. But that was up there. That really was up there.

Oh, Lord. LeCleur was driving like a man possessed. Like, it, I didn't, yeah. He just wanted that. podium. I want a wing mongser again. Give me an illegal engine, but definitely wasn't illegal.

Oh. Oh dear. Sonoda just wanted to complete the formation lab. And couldn't? Couldn't even do that? Oh, that guy was such a run of a bagful. What even bad for? What even bad for him was a sucker?

I think on the wrong strategy, didn't go well for him. Italy could get off the formation lab. We're coming up to Singapore, where Sergio Perez absolutely destroys his Grand Prix. It's just not a good run this part of the season for Yuki Singh. Yeah. Nice little segue into Singapore. I'm going into the Asian leg of the calendar now. Red Bull didn't win.

We. You had a different answer. So much that happened in this race that my brain is a bit fuzzled by it. But what a Grand Prix it was. I mean, signs Russell Hamilton Norris within like three seconds of each other or two seconds of each other, battling for the win at the end of the Grand Prix. Yes, please. I, I've just put, I think, it is and we'll do obviously do this in LBs but I think it's race of the season for me it was just that battle alone I mean it went on forever went for like the whole race and yes as you say Ben yes please more of that thank you I'm not quite sure I'd phrase this one but if this was a different credit to Singapore because if this was a different circuit I feel like the Mercedes wrap this up a few laps to go and it's not quite as exciting.

Yeah, that's fair. Agreed. Also, science being a genius with the IRS. Right? Science is an absolute genius. And I love that Norris clocked onto it as well because he knew that he was in danger if it wasn't working.

But it's just the case of you don't need to make passes for the league for something to be in. This is the epitome of that argument that overtakes don't always make for a fascinating Grand Prix. And this was strategically a master class. It was so exciting to watch. Heartbreak for Russell, though, obviously slamming it into the wall.

After we watched Norris in front clip the wall, who arguably is about a centimeter away from ruining his own race. But, yeah, what late drama, and everything. It was brilliant. Yeah. Two points in time, yeah. Not every great race needs to have a huge amount of overtakes. And, like I say, if there was a DRS enabled straightforward pass option for the Mercedes duo,

I don't think that's anywhere near as exciting. It still would have been, I think, one of the best races of the year. Don't get me wrong, but the fact that you had so many cars so close to each other right at the end, that was great. And yeah, as mentioned,

not in this episode, I think we mentioned in the last episode, Shao LeClaire not able to capitalize on the one race that he might have been able to win. Yeah. Also, Sergio Perez, with, I think with the most disgusting overtake attempt I've ever seen in my life.

It was a good one, was it? Oh my God. Between this in Japan, the guy had an absolute failure of understanding what an overtake was. He was just on a murder mission at this point. That's literally, for my Japan notes, I just put Perez with more murders. He's carried on in Japan. Was it Magnuson? He just drove into the side of?

Yeah. Just what are you, that he was a bad runner form for Sergio. I think with Perez as well is that typically he has struggled. in the European middle of the year. He did that last year. He did that this year. So it's nothing different. But Singapore, obviously,

street circuit, he won there last year. I think it was almost more disappointing for him not being able to convert into a good race where we know he can. When Maxwell Stappen isn't the one winning, you've got to be the guy, surely. And let's move on to that.

Sergio Perez takes his penalty before retiring, so he murdered someone and somewhat got away with it. Yeah, I forgot. Oh, I think this is the biggest farce, maybe other than the FIA at the end of the season that we saw all year. I think, oh, this still feels like, it feels like a bit of a joke that you're allowed to get away with that. I'll come out of my retirement, do a lap, serve a penalty, retire again.

What, how does that help anyone in this sport? Also, I think that showed what sort of race it was because it was quite a dull one. And they focused on that so much on the coverage. I was like, well, if this is what we're watching, then this is not an exciting race. Also, weird team orders from Mercedes and obviously the Alpine team orders right at the end. Yeah, yeah. I just think it hammers down that Suzuki is such a brilliant track to drive, but I'm not sure how good a race it produces at the moment.

It's been a while since we've had a banner of a Grand Prix there. And to be clear, I'm not looking for any sympathy from non-Europeans, appreciate we get it very, very good here in Europe. But when you have a race like that at 6 o'clock in the morning, it's all the more difficult, isn't it? Right. Should we take one last break for today? And then we'll see off the last few races of the year. Yeah, going in.

Okay, we're into the final stretch. Last six races of the year. And we'll start with Qatar. Don't remember much happening at Qatar. No controversy whatsoever. As races go, bring you down. Yep. Bit hot, wasn't it?

It was hot and there were a lot of pit stuff. Oh, yeah, the tyres. I forgot that bit. They had to do three or two stops. Three stops? It was three, I think, wasn't it? Jesus. If you remove the safety issue of the drivers,

obviously in their flat-out Grand Prix, as a weekend, it might be the most entertaining weekend of Formula One this season. The sprint race was good. The controversy with the trap limits that they had to change. The tyres not working properly. The exhaust you for the drivers,

the pit stops. It had a lot going on. Hamilton again for the second time this year forgetting where other cars are. Just crashing straight into Russell. My team might took me out, man. I know we've already referenced that Mercedes have only had one double podium

all year. This could have been another one. I, it probably still would have won Vastappen, but I think they could have given Vestappen a headache that race. Russell was quick. Yeah, and Russell obviously spun went to the back. Did he have damage as well? Yeah, yeah.

And yeah, like say he was rapid coming back through the field. So, yeah, I genuinely, maybe this was Mercedes-Bet, well, obviously, Singapore, but other than Singapore, maybe their best chance of a win. Yeah, I think it's certainly up there. I just remember the race itself, obviously, we had the mandated stops and you couldn't do more than a certain number of laps on a tire. I remember just trying to keep up with it. And this might have been the race where I was, and I appreciate it was difficult, but the race where I was most furious with the commentary team because Valtrey Bottas, who squeezed a couple of points out of this Grand Prix did not need to pit four times.

But the amount of times it was said, I was like, no. he doesn't need to pit again. He's done, no, he's already done that. No, for the whole race. I understand it's a lot to keep up with, but if we're at home able to keep up with it, you know, whilst not having half the information that they get, come on, get on with it.

But also, we've said it before, but big up to Logan the sergeant, being the person that properly took himself out at the Grand Prix and went, this is unsafe, and I don't feel good about it. And I still feel it's a very brave and admirable thing to do because some drivers came out and said they were passing out in their car,

which is terrifying. Yeah, I think it was a very brave thing for him to do And actually if we're just looking at performance I think he was pretty quick that weekend Yeah, he was solid I think he probably could have maybe gone on to beat Albin that weekend He was right there with him There were a couple of them towards the end of the season

with Sargent weren't there Where there were just a few glimpses That he might be able to Take qualifying away from Alburn Or finish just ahead of him And Coats are another one right where he was so close. Yeah, there were a number that didn't ever quite materialise.

But he was close. And this, I think, was one of those. But obviously, heat exhaustion got in the way for himself and others. I'm interested to know how Qatar's going to be remembered. Like, is it just going to be remembered as that stupidly hot race? Is it going to be remembered for the tyres? Is it going to be a mixture? I don't know.

It was a real drama fest. Dang it. It had everything. Obviously, pastry winging the sprint race as well. The McLaren's a great. Norris bottling qualifying. Mercedes coming together.

The tyres, the track limits were a problem, the exhaustion. It had so many factors to it. Any one of those, any other Grand Prix weekend, would have made it exciting. But that one had about nine different variables.

Yeah. Right, let's go to, and I can actually say let's go to because we went there. Austin. We love you, Austin. Stay weird. First, there will be racing.

together. We. Which is ridiculous. How ridiculous is that? It was nice. It was very nice. I realised we said this, that we'd never watch the race together.

We had watched a race together, not obviously at the circuit. Portugal 2020. We have. I wish we had to have a company about. Anyway. That is a road one.

Yeah. Cota was excellent. Not just because we were there, but it was actually a pretty decent weekend. I appreciate we're going to be biased on this, but it was actually a good race, wasn't it? there's so many things that I don't fully remember though

because I was so overwhelmed the fact that we were being there and the fact that we did a track tour we got to go in the Askin Martin garage I'm so overwhelmed by the amount of cool beep words that happened on that weekend I'm still blown away by it but the race was great some of the overtakes we saw again we've already mentioned it stroll absolutely planting it going down to

was it turn 10 10 11 the racing was phenomenal Hamilton B and Le Cresley Claire being disqualified for the infringements on their cars was crazy. It had a lot going on. I put here, I put stroll coming back from Qatar on Ricardo. And then also McLaren's best chance of a win? Question mark.

Potentially? Maybe. It's certainly up there. Yeah. That and Qatar are pretty close. Also, and I hate to say it, get rid of the sprint race. And I think that's a better weekend. Yes.

it did emulate the sprint race is bigger didn't it and I'm not even like generic hating on sprint races like I normally do it's that really didn't help the Sunday race it was the worst sprint as we said enough times

it was the most normal sprint race we ever had in terms of weather track positions people just starting a normal place and it played out exactly how the race was going to play out I just remember like the overwhelming dread of seeing

the Ferrari struggling on Saturday and being like Oh, no, no, no, no. You're going to be hotter on Sunday. And they started signs on softs, which worked for approximately five laps. It's a great past year gang, Ferrari. I could just remember being in the stands, like, looking. There was one lap in particular where, rather than being closer to the car in front,

he was then closer to the car behind. I think I might have turned to you, Harry, just went, here we go. Oh, no. Oh, dear. He actually held on more than I thought he would, but. Yeah, not a good one. Right, Mexico came after that. Sergio Peres tried his best in the term one.

It was a bold move. It didn't pay off. I don't know. I get trying to make that move. But equally, no, it wasn't on. It wasn't on, was it? He went one step too far, didn't he? It was a really good start.

and then he just tried to push his luck too far in that first corner. And I think if he was just patient, he had the determination to possibly challenge, you know, if things had gone, I wouldn't have been surprised if a staffing had been a, I don't know, but a little bit of a, oh,

I've slipped or, oh, I'll let the Checo come through. Sure. But he threw it away so quickly. You can't win a race on turn one, but he bloody lost it, didn't he?

Oh, it's so frustrating. Because he's not a fifth, didn't he? Yeah, He was up alongside first by turn one. Yeah. Mad start. Alpha Tauri were very good. Aston Martin were not very good.

This was the weekend of our worst predictions ever made. Because I said Peres was going to win. Sam said Astor Martin's in the top six or something. And then Ben said... Oh, it was... Ocon, really. Yeah. Top four or something for O'Con.

And he came 10th. Yeah. Which wasn't looking like... it was going to be that good for most of the race. Yep. Ricardo had a stellar race here, which was bad timing for Paris, but yeah, excellent race.

Yeah, and was it Norris versus... Was it Norris overtaking Russell? Yes, that was filthy. Russell or Ricardo? It was Russell. He did it to both of them, but the Russell move was... He sent him for a bag of chips, didn't he? Oh, it's an incredible move.

Yeah, he absolutely launched it. It was it down the inside of turn four? it was it was like the chican wasn't it that you cut back on him it was so sick and it was about a millimeter between his front wing and the yeah oh really good move

and yeah topster riccada who all of a sudden that Alfatari looked competitive again I mean that was that was the race where Norris should have qualified better scrub

because he was so quick coming through the field yeah he was a little run here of bottling it when it mattered and it raised some concerns I think that we spoke about of can Norris

do enough when the pressure comes down to ever be a top driver. I mean, his race performances are so amazing, but he needs to start getting it right to springboard himself into actual success rather than just recovering. Also, Kevin Magneson just watching his crumpled house burn from the sidelines. Oh, goodness.

Oh, dear. Three to go. Brazil. Alonso and Perez were quite close at the line. if I remember correctly. Yeah, I'd just put it in capitals Alonzo for Brazil. What a fight. What a fight.

That was so good. And I think Brazil and, well, not Brazil, the country, but the Brazilian Grand Prix itself can consider itself a little bit lucky that happened because if that didn't happen, there was not a lot to talk about. No, the other highlight I've got written down is it completed my weird driver photos when they got on the track of Charles Lecler, walking awkwardly next to all

the signs in the infield. Oh, poor Charles. Photographers looking at him like he's some kind of wildlife that's been caught outside. And here we see a wild Lecler. A Ferrari against natural habitat. That felt like the race for me

where Charles LeCleur ran out of reactions. Like he just ran out of things that he could react to. He could react about, like he just, what is there left say or pull an expression over. So just give me a race one in car, please, now at this point. But yeah, Alonzo Perez.

That was the clear highlight from that one. Lord. Not much to say about Las Vegas. Nah, nothing. You know what? Absolute surprise of the season. Underrated banger, I think. I enjoyed it.

I've looked back at it recently and I liked it a lot more than I thought. A lot of DRS movies, but I think they really got the DRS right. And that was a big concern going into this Grand Prix of do they make the DRS too long? All the moves get done halfway down the straight. But for the most part, we saw some late breaking moves going into some heavy braking zones. And that LeCleur move on Perez, who was caught napping twice, I think, that race. You know, brilliant move, but also disastrous from Sergio.

Yeah, it was a great move. I have written No Grip GP, which only lasted really the first few laps. and then also Alpine trying to kill each other and their weird team orders. Oh, Alpine. Oh, dear. Yeah, I feel like it's such a complicated weekend to try and break down

because the expectation, well, not even the expectation, but the anticipation was so high based on everything going into this. And then we had obviously the practice issue. And it really, really needed a good race. And it got one. It was, you're right, it was, it was a really good race.

I think it was one of the better ones of the season. And it's a good thing they got it. Yeah, yeah, 10 year deal. Also, just what I say, the sphere, baby. Oh, yeah. I love that big giant dome. I don't know why I'm putting so much optimism in F1 because normally they don't repay me.

But I feel like they're going to, I don't know, they'll adjust for year two and I think they'll keep all the best bits and lose some of the stuff that they don't need and I don't know, I've got optimism that it's actually going to turn out long term to be alright. You mean driving the drivers,

the top three drivers to the hotel and driving them back again? Exactly that. I get why they did that. It was to bring the podium thinging, but I think Liberty had been good at that since they took over Formula One which was go all out,

some things aren't going to work and then we refine. And I'm kind of okay with that as a strategy. Yeah, it's fair. A quick mention. Bruce Buffer shouting at Sergio. Oh, yes. He looks so confused.

Why are you shouting in my face? That's my gosh. What do you want? Do I need to reply? Oh, God. I never thought we'd get a face to rival, the face that he made in the press conference a few years ago, but he tried.

Oh. Also, bring those back, please. Great banter. Yeah. The videos of the press conference. Why did they not do more of those? They were, I don't think they intended to be, but they were hilarious. Everyone was so bored.

And that just leaves us with Abu Dhabi. Oh. Not much to say her, is there? Nice. I just say, I just say so, folks. Cheers. I, the only note I had was Hamilton and Alonzo playing DRS chicken, which I've already mentioned. So that was my only note.

Once again, it's Hamletting along, so we're trying X with each other, and we get great drama, slightly dodgy. racing, but it was one of the better parts of a very del Grand Prix. And also Alonso being mad at being slow in a straight line. He was mad. He was mad. And then immediately overtook someone in a straight line. Russell had a good race, finally.

Yeah, wait until the end of the season. Cheers, George. What else happened? Anything else happened there? Oh, LeCler, trying to do the strategy of holding up Perez or... Yes, the maths. Good banter. Yeah.

Also, for people watching on a video, the sun, the heavens have opened again on Ben. It was, stop it. The second coming of Ben. It's too close to the end of the episode. Do it all right? Yeah. It was so dull earlier. Ben, Oh, Christ.

That's great. Texas jumper. Yeah. If you had to give a quick synopsis of the season, Sam, just everything rolled into one, how would you summarize it? For Stappan, incredible. McLaren started from the bottom now they're here. Alongst I've still got it. Alpine,

no plan. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. Completely fair. Anything from you, Harry. I'll just add to that. Mercedes needs to be better. What are you doing? What do you do? Hasse can only do

qualifying. Go to go fast. In qualifying. I don't want to be a downer, but I'm going to be. Quite comfortably worse season of the last four years. Yeah, I think that's fair.

Yeah. I think there's still lots of great stories from this season. And like you say, we, as we said, you said at the start, Ben, like bar rain, but we were already looking for the other stories

because we can see how quick Red Bull were. So there's still great stories, but just it had so many glimpses of being good. And they just never quite came together. And again, this is, I don't think this is from Vestappen winning all the time. Because I don't think that necessarily means you having a bad season. Yeah. But the biggest compliment I can play Max Vastappen is that if we removed him from this season,

the amount of different wingers we would have had would have been fantastic. Yeah. See, I, it would have been good to see. and this is maybe controversial. I think if you take Red Bull and Max for Stappan out of this season, it's still not a very good season. Because there weren't, yeah,

you get more winners. Race to race, I mean. Yeah, but I think the actual race is just... Oh my God, folks. Sorry, Binks has waved his time if I got the son and I'm blind. Perfect. Ben, stay like that.

Yeah, it's... Some of the races were poor. I mean, like Azerbaijan, like we've already said, we skipped over it. As I suppose Jan. It's that always chaos and nothing happened. We actually had a couple of okay ones towards the end of the year,

where if we didn't have that, there was a long run in the beginning to two-thirds of the way through the season. We had Zambor, which was very entertaining. And I feel like we really needed that because that was coming off a run of some not many good ones. Zandvort and Singapore, they helped a dodgy period. then Qatar and USA were good again. And Mexico was all right. But then, yeah, they were littered with dull processional Grand Prix

where even the overtakes that were happening were just DRS straight passes that were done. I also got its problems. I, but I don't think it's, yeah, Ben's not moving his head in front of the sun. I don't even, I don't think it, because I know a lot of people are quick to say, like, this is a new formula, this is a formula. This is a new formula that's not worked. Was that this year? This is the formula?

Or was that last year? Yeah, it was this year. Good Lord. Is that what I mean? Yeah. But I think that's unfair. I think that's unfair because there is, we're still getting better races than we did. I'm not saying in the past, like you say, four years.

But you go back, I don't know, to the noughties or something back in those days. I think we're still in a better place. Oh, yeah. I just, I actually think some of it is, this year has been like circumstantial. Like I say, there have been lots of glimpses of this could be a banger. and it's just not worked out like that. Like, Hungary, for example, Vastapun doesn't get to one first.

I think we're on for a belting race. It's just those sort of things that just didn't go the way. The cookie didn't crumble the right way. Do you think there's reason to be optimistic for 24? I think so. I hope so. If these things come true, such as Christian Hong are saying that the effects of the penalty

haven't been felt yet, if that's true, if they do feel those effects, sure, if Ashton Martin, McLaren, Masegis and Ferrari all understand their gremlings and can put it together. In a perfect world, we could be for an absolute thriller. You know,

the stars aren't often are lying, so I'm not going to put any money on it. But it could be better. I would struggle to find it be worse, actually. This really wasn't an all-time season. I think, yeah, look, Red Bull are still going to be up there, but this is,

are these sort of seasons are anomalies like 19 out of 22 races for Vassap and 21 out of 22 for Red Bull we have these like you know Ferrari used to do it and Mercedes 2020 vibes but they don't

there's dominance always comes to an end like it's it just does so whether that happens next year I'm not saying it will but you'd expect the rest to be closer I think there there's still like a little bit of a ceiling on how good a season can be at the moment just based on I don't think the

formula. I don't think the formula is quite where it could or maybe should be. You're right. It is way better than it used to be. But at the same time, I don't think we're where we were at the beginning of 22. I remember Bahrain and Saudi Arabia being such a breath of fresh air because you could get such close fighting. And I feel like, and it's natural. the teams have cottoned on and done everything they can to, you know, make their cars difficult to follow again. And I think a lot of that work they've done has just, I don't know, diluted what we've got on the moment a little bit.

But I still think, I think there's reason to be more optimistic for next year. We had a weird year where McLaren were good for 50% of the year. Astor Martin were good for 50% of the year. Ferrari were not as good as they were the year before. and Mercedes were simultaneously really bad and still second place, which should probably tell you that there just wasn't one consistent challenger. Yeah. If we can get one of them, maybe even more than one of them,

to be in that sort of place, then maybe we'll have something a little more entertaining next year. Oh, fingers crossed, folks. But we're here in the winter break now, in the cold. In the dark. Well, not what Ben is. the sun's blazing. Well, yeah.

Apparently, he's still in Marrakesh. My head's really warm. The back of his head's cooking. I'm a fire back there. You can't see it. Got a gammon going. Right. So that does it for the season review.

Bit of a first time thing. So we'd be interested to know your thought. So whether you think this was a good format for us to do? Have we wasted an hour of all of our time? If we've wasted an hour of your time, apologies, let us know and we won't do it again next year. But we still have Elbies coming up this year.

Woo! Elbies! That is our award ceremony. If you're one that's brand new and we do many things like Hall of Famer, we do things like Best Overtake,

best radio message. There's loads of other great Elbees that come out as well. And you can vote for a Hall of Famer. You can vote for a Hall of Fame and now, I think now, should be now.

Sure. Say now. Yeah. Now. Now. Who do you think belongs in the late breaking Hall of Fame? It could be for,

any reason whatsoever. Just to give you some examples. Yeah. So we've done two full years of inductees and the way that we work it is we each get a nomination and we do one by the fans. So 2021, of course, Harry voted for Shaquille O'Neill.

Sam voted for Dave Benton Phillips. I voted for Yuki Sonoda and the fans voted for Harry's fire alarm. And then last year, Sam voted for Jean-Pierre Jabouille, for Jabuie, as anyone would call him. I voted for Sam's cat, Ian.

Harry voted for his own microwave, and the fans voted for beef. So if you think, ah, this suggestion might be too random, no, that doesn't exist. Because there's quite a selection of people

in that Hall of Fame currently. How many of them are people? We should just imagine the round table of our Hall of Fame. Isn't you just anodeer in there? Yeah. We've got five people, two appliances and a cat.

That'll have a great time. They have a party. They won't burn anything down when they microws other for too long. And they've got a cat to cuddle. Exactly. I think the LBs will end up being... It gets really confusing

because everything just goes into a mess when we double record. I think the LBs... It's on Sunday, right? No. Are they next Sunday? Elbies is the next episode after this. Elbies is the next episode.

There's 17th. That's the 17th of December. So in a few days time, you've got a few days left at this point. Yeah, getting in. It's the tech suggestions that are right what you think. And it could be anything. It's been saying, Formula One, non-Fournal one, podcast-specific, make it niche, whatever. Do you want to get us out of here, Sam?

Finish us off. Before we do that. Oh, yeah. Hall of Famer we spoke about already. Oh, yeah. Beef. Life update. She's got a life update for us, just because, you know, we've got no submissions going on.

But she's done one anyway, which we didn't even ask. for, but thanks anyway, Beef. So if you were missing out on Beef, which I know at least 10 people probably are. Thanks, Beef. Here you go. There's a whole minute of this. So strap yourselves in.

We've not listened to this either. So please don't swear, beef. Hello, this is your birthday beef update. Number one, it was my dad's 50th. We had a great big bash. It was fabulous. Lots of family, friends, lovely time. Then, me,

birthday beef was my birthday on Sunday I am now 26 years old um boyfriend beef took me away on a surprise trip to edinburgh so I had a fabulous trip in Edinburgh with lots of food and I was just spoiled by my boyfriend and by all my family friends this weekend is boyfriend beef's dad's 6th so I'll keep you one update on that um other update in my life is that thing I was working towards at work, that was really stressed, passed, nailed it, fully qualified, love my life. That's it for now, bye.

Well, so many birthdays. It's a nightmare for money I imagine this year in that family. Good Lord. Christmas birthdays. Big bash beef. Don't have kicks in December, folks. Cheers, beef. Didn't ask, don't care.

I'm only joking beef. Thank you very much. I'm not sure of care and ratio. We are good kids. Oh, good. Steve Boshamie, can you please get us out of here? Steve Bershemi. Right.

I've lost my mind now. You can recall me now. Disclose in the description, folks. Again, getting your submission for Hall of Famer. We have Patreon as well, and there's lots of Patreon going on at the moment. As you're listening to this, we are getting ready to recall. beer with breaking and another Patreon episode. That's right.

We're talking about eight episodes this week, I think. It's a lot of episodes. Sure. So stay tuned for that as well. Also, there is the grand finale of our Discord Racing League is happening on the 17th as well. So if you're in the Discord,

maybe get involved, chat to the races, having great fun. Follow us late breaking F1, and you can watch us on YouTube as well, Late Breaking F1, subscribe. We're at the big 5K. Can you hit the Big 10K before Silverstone? I'm not sure what year,

but it's coming, baby. And I think that's, everything. Leave a five-star review if your name's Harry Ead. We love you. We'll see you soon. And in the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Ben Hock Christ. And remember, keep breaking late. He's got a hot head. It's Ben. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.