The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Our top 5 drivers of the 2026 season so far

Episode Date: August 2, 2026

With Ben away, Sam and Harry are in the driving seat! They pick their standout drivers of the season so far, discuss Stefano Domenicali's claim that fans "aren't interested" in F1's technical side, and explore Hockenheim's bid to return to the F1 calendar... Join us in Amsterdam for pre-Dutch GP drinks! CLICK HERE for event details and to confirm your attendance. Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get:Ad-free listeningFull-length bonus episodesPower Rankings after every raceHistorical race reviews& more exclusive extras!Don't forget! You can also gift a Late Braking Patreon subscription—perfect for loved ones or your own wish list. Choose anything from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking:You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats!Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us! LEAGUE CODE: C6Y6R4ZUY02Get in touch any time at [e-mail]  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry E's and me, Samuel Sage. We are in the summer break, unfortunately, so no racing this weekend, but we do have lots to talk to you about. But firstly, if you're going to talk to us about actual Formula One when the summer break ends, we're going to be Amsterdam. We're going to a Grand Prix. Harry, where are we going?

To Amsterdam. Yeah, we are. We mentioned this before, folks, but we are heading to the Dutch GP, the next race in the iPhone calendar. And on the 20th of August, that's the Thursday before the race, we're doing a meetup.

So if you'd like to come and join us, I won't say the bar of the bar's name because it's in the description. I can remember it, Lebruin, something, DeVruin. That is exactly how the Dutch people would say it. Perfect. The actual name is in the description. It's at 7pm on the 2.m.

20th of August. We're going to be there. We'll have some drinks. We'll say hello to you people. We'll have some great chats, obviously. If you'd like to come, there's a link to a form in the description. Please, can you fill that out? Just to confirm your attendance.

We did a form before. If you did that, you need to do this one as well. It's a new form. If you're coming, you have to fill out this new form. It's form 2.0. So please fill in the form. Otherwise, we don't know if you're coming. Excellent.

There's a lot of admin to go on a show wearing bang is. not here. So this is great. We are going to go through lots of different things today. Father Christmas of birthdays will appear at very end of the show. That's the most important thing to point out. I'm going top, back onto top. That's how he does it.

Chaos! All right. Father Christmas of birthdays will be here for birthday shoutouts for those people on Patreon. The return of real or no real, not created by me. How are you just leading this? Have you got the banker ready to go? No, he might not turn up today. What do you mean?

The phone might ring and no one's there. That's quite literally the whole point of the show, is to play that phone jingle. Good. We're also talking about much news that is occurring because there's lots of debates going on and we've found lots of announcements when it comes to tracks.

Fall on the currently debating whether we should go back to Hockenhame and the German Grand Prix about maybe we should end the season there. We've got a lot of issues, of course, with the Middle East right now and changing of circuits. We'll get into that,

later on the show. We're also going to be talking about Stefan and Carly's quotes and comments about what F1 thinks it should be what viewers want or don't want. There's a whole lot to go into that. We get into that way shortly. But to start the episode, we thought there was summer break activity.

We'll be walking through our top five drivers of the season so far. So, Harry, why don't you run through from five to one? Who are your top drivers so far? Thank you. I will do. My top five drivers of the season so far, I've gone for number five, Liam Lawson. Number four, Lando Norris.

Number three, Lewis Hamilton. number two, Max Verstappen, and number one, Kimmy and Tinelli. Oh, it's a me. Number one. Well, it's a great top five, actually. I love that top five. Very good.

Did you actually number them or I just made up? They're numbered. But he's just because I've sent them numbered as well. So it's a rarity. It's a 30-year-old man. He's discovered numbering lists. Very good. I'm 30 now.

I've discovered how to count. Right, five down to one for me. My top five drivers at the season, so far through five. at 5th, the Staphamming in fourth, so slightly different to you. Hamilton in the same place that you had in being third. Lorsing, I've got in second, and I've also got Kimmy Antigley first. So we've got a few unique picks in there. You had Norris on your list, which I didn't have.

Why did you put Norris in there? You hate him, right? That's why. That's the problem. We've just covering it. Yeah, Norris, I debated a bit back and forth on. But overall, I actually think he's had quietly a good year. I know it's been tough at times,

but quite a least had quite a good year, and it's probably gone more on notice just because of the performance of that car. I think for the most part, he's comfortably been better than Piastri. The last couple races it does for like it stood out. Yeah, and again, maybe it hasn't gotten as notice as much in other races

because they've been further down the order. That isn't to say Piastri's been terrible by no means, but I think overall Norris has been comfortably quicker than him. And to be where he is in the standings, considering that that car has broken down, they've not started races, I think it's actually pretty impressive. So whilst it's not been the,

you know, the championship defending year that he would have been hoping for, I'm not saying he's still in the hunt, but to still kind of almost be there, considering everything that's gone wrong this year for him and McLaren, I think is pretty impressive. So, yeah, I thought he's actually had a strong year,

and it's just maybe not gone, not gone notice very often. Yeah, it feels like Miami really stood out for a weekend for Norris, the way he hunted down Antingelli to try and fight for that wing, of course,

did really well in the spring period and qualify, was really good for that whole weekend. I think that was probably the stand-out weekend. I had Gasly extent of Norris, because otherwise we've pretty much got

the same second drivers there. Good from us, we are the same. We are the same. Gasly, I guess, is, that Alpeeing is on a steady slope of getting worse and worse

and worse, because there's only three people that work there. That's why Begg isn't here. He's currently at Engstone. It's summer shutdown now, so he's not allowed to be here. Yeah, that's how it works. He's part of his contract from Alpigis to do this show. So you've got a month without him.

Yeah, I just think he's fighting a car that is really, really struggling, racing, race out. He almost made seventh place, Gasli's place, for a little while. And I thought Japan in particular was a real highlight for Pia, the way he held off Max Verstappen, in that worse, arguably, Red Bull at the time, I thought the battle the offensive he put up was really quite sensational. He has been comfortable clear of everyone,

apart from Liam Lawson, who we both have on our lists later on. I think he's done a really good job. A car that is worse than both for the Audi. It's worse than the racing boards itself. It's probably becoming close to equal with the likes of the Williams now, you know, rarely scoring those points.

So the fact that he is so often either in Q3 or fighting for those points, I think it's really impressive. I think he's shong above most of the midfield there. who do you think should go in the ultimate top five mister oh mine obviously no to be fair i think just on gasley he he would have been if this was a top six list i think it'd have him sixth but to be honest fourth fifth or six though norris lawson gasley for me are fairly interchangeable um

i can i can see why why you've said gasics i think yeah i could i could have had in there just i think like said norris has been maybe a bit more quietly impressive um he has had some he has had some great races but it's it's falling off a little bit but again that the car's fallen off too so um i'd make i'd make the claim for norris just because i think versus his teammate he's been he's been superb this year yeah yeah i can't think of a race that was properly bad for norris struggling to think of a time where he was really poor off the of the pace especially against his teammate as you mentioned maybe japan that was the only make a think of where Piastra was better.

Shafting slightly by the safety car, I guess. So, yeah, I totally see why you've got Norris in now. I think that's perfectly fair. You just mentioned Liam Lawson. You have him, what, fourth on your list? He's fifth. Sorry, fifth of your list. Yes.

So why is he just speaking? I mean, you've got him way higher than I do, but Lawson is another driver who's had a great year, and I think it's not perhaps shouted about enough, especially compared to, compared to where he was, I mean, this time last year, for example, had been dumped from Red Bull. His form wasn't particularly strong at racing balls,

which understandable because as a driver, that's going to take a lot psychologically to get over. I think this year he's been super impressive. And I don't know whether a part of it is because he's had to slightly step up his game with Alfred Lindblatt, because I think he has been superb, hasn't quite made the top five for me here. But again. He was close for me.

Yeah, I'd say he's close to it. He's not far off it. So, yeah, maybe that's a part of it. But Lawson has been quick and consistent. The car has been working, but he's delivered with it. Like I said, he's just head of Ghazly's best of the rest, basically, in the championship. So he's had a really superb year. I can see why you've got him higher. I just think the other drivers ahead have been slightly better. But overall, top, top year for Lawson. I said this, I think, I think, as to Ben the other day. What a shame. What a shame that this didn't come. Or that he was promoted to Red Bull, as we would always say far too early. But just if he'd been allowed to have this time to be that consistent driver

for another year at Racing Bulls and now was it Red Bull. Yeah. I think we have spoken often about the pain of Red Bull promoting too quickly and the pickle that they got themselves in by having such a bag second seat,

essentially going up against Max Verstappel, which is always so hard to do. I think Lawson, has finished in the points, I think seven or eight times so far this season. And he's now the best of the rest. He's now the leading the midfield. I think part of why I've rated him so high. And I've got him a second is that development as well. I know he's up against Limbaugh, but we've so regularly said that Limbaugh is not essentially a rookie. He's driving like a much stronger regular driver. And Ben likes to always use the example of if you were to set all the

drivers out without knowing who it was, you would be able to point out who the rookie is. So I think it shows how strong a teammate losses having to go up against. And so regularly he is genuinely. really quicker. I've always backed him for his junior career. I always thought it was a really exciting young driver. And then we kicked off so badly with that promotion demotion. He just felt like his head could have dropped. And he could have been out of the sport within half a season.

And it wasn't being the end of his Formula One career. Yeah, he's really great his teeth, going together, overcome that bad wheel to wheel action that he had so regularly, like so many mistakes, crashes that kept happening. He's cleaned up his act so much on the track. And he's quick, really, really quick. So for me, it's such a big turnaround. I'm so impressed by what he's able to do.

I think he gets a bit of a bad wrap at the moment. I think Lawson's been seriously impressive. That's why I've got him second, where actually I think you've got Verstappen in second place. Yeah, I went for match for Stappen. Now this probably seems like an obvious choice to put Vastappen there. And I know he's had a few offs this year, but for the most part, that's his car and his weird rear wing

not working properly rather than Vestappen. I mean, Austria, for example. potentially could have been him. But I think he's been driving. I mean, it's what you expect from Max Verstappen, but he's actually been superb overall this year. And he's dragging a Red Bull that,

while sometimes is quick, and when it is quick, he's getting it into good places. He's still dragging a Red Bull around that is not consistently very good over a season. So far, let's be honest. I know they have the fastest engine in inverted commas.

But overall, that Red Bull hasn't been great. and I think he's been putting into places where it doesn't deserve to be, and versus Hadjar. Not to say Hadja's had a badger by any means, but still he's been fairly impressive against him. So like Norris in the similar sort of way, I don't think to be that close in the championship,

and I know he's quite a way away from the leader or anything, but to still be maybe talked about is impressive in itself. so that's why I've gone for a second. It's really hard with someone like as good as Max Verstappen to turn around and actively point at a bad performance. He's so consistently good. And I think even when the car hasn't been good enough, and we saw with the likes of earlier in the season,

when overtaking was so difficult and they were actually more than midfield than they were fighting at the front. It really looked like he was struggling. And we had so many conversations about the fact he might just be off. He might just be absolutely fed up with it. He's had to battle with that mentally.

think that could really have taken a toll on, you know, himself or the performance around him. And we still so rarely see that drop from Verstappen. Arguably, I think he's maybe his worst performance is, I'm trying to think of a bad one, genuinely, a bad performance. I mean, like, Suzuki was tough, but I think the car was, like, he was battling an LP. He battled gradually basically for the whole race and didn't get past him. But the car was, what, he finished P8, that race because of the car. But the car was not there. So I think that's the thing.

it looks like a worse season on paper, I guess, for Stappen. And he is the sort of bottom of the pile of those drivers in the top of the top of the championship. But to even still be still be in there is pretty remarkable, to be honest. And arguably, the race where he was most likely going to maybe get a win, both in Austria and in Monaco, in Monaco, of course, he doesn't get off the grid because the car fails on him again. The same happening in Austria, right? He's setting that qualifying lap. the rear wing doesn't close and he flies into the barriers

and there's every chance that he could have been closer to the front and as we saw him at the end of that Grand Prix if he starts a few places closer and doesn't have to battle his way through in the opening lap there's a chance again that he goes and gets a victory there so he easily could have won two Grand Prix this season and on both occasions the car at some point at the weekend has let him down so great shout to have him

in second I've got him in fourth someone we do have to match that isn't at the very top of our list is Lewis Hamilton and third what I turn around this season has been for Lewis Hamilton. Now, it's not back to his very best, but I think he's a bit of a happy shabby. He seems to have it a bit together. Yeah, and there's glimpses of his very best. And I think to expect, obviously, the expectations of Lewis Hamilton are very high because he's Lewis Hamilton, but I think maybe to expect him to be, you know, he's going to be back to 2020 version of

Lewis Hamilton is maybe, maybe bold. But he still can operate at such a high levels and and the higher than the most, if not all, the grid on some days, Barcelona being an example of that. And this year, he's shown that again. I think I'd have had him in second if my guy would stop getting penalties. Literally that. Literally that. And I think that can, and I know, not, you know, some of them debatable, etc.

But that combined with a few races, certainly in the, you know, second half, not half, the second quarter of this year, where pastry in the race has dropped off at random times. Yeah. And it sort of dropped him out of contention when he was in the fight. So that's the only reason I've gone through. But overall, you know, versus where he was this time last year. I think, was it hungry last year where he was like saying he was useless and they should

get someone else to drive the car. I've never seen a mental turnaround from someone who is a seven time world champion to be that high before coming be that low. Like, let's say he's the worst driver, he's terrible. Like, you've got over 100 race wings. I am the worst. I am the worst. I am the worst at this. Technically, the most successful ever, but I'm the worst.

It tops every single child, statistically. I'm the worst ever. Please, please put me out my mistake. Get someone else. Olly Diamond, come on. Put literally anyone else in the car. That can be better than me. Yeah, he's turning around as being phenomenal. And I think it does show that it's such a stupid statement. The car genuinely makes a difference.

he's had input in creating this car he clearly enjoys the way these cars work a lot more and whilst we know that he didn't gel with the ground effect cars as some drivers thrived and some barely survived it felt like it felt like Thrive to survive

Nice Yeah Yeah Hit show On Not Netflix Not Netflix Good

Yeah he just felt like He had to overcome that hurdle And it came at the worst time With the knocking 2021 of course where it felt like maybe if you got that eighth, I don't know if he would have retired, walked away, whatever it might be. You come into that low, you've got three or four years

where you're being beaten like by George Russell, the car doesn't suit you. And you come into a new era and we think, oh gosh, I like to get at the start of the season. Does he walk at the end of this year? Does he get pecking? Is it going to all go the wrong way? Arguably, this is the best he's being for about five years now. I think it's great to see. It's great for the sport.

It's great for us as, you know, for the show for the listeners. Someone like Hamilton is close to his best. about 80% of what we're used to for Hamilton, which is, like the most, not the worst. Exactly,

not the worst. I think that's the important point. He may never get back to 100%, but there'll be days when he is 100% peak Lewis Hamilton and for the rest of the time he's maybe 80. Catalonia, for example. He was like 95% and it was great to watch.

And even in the lead up to Barcelona, there were a couple of races where he was super impressive and they didn't get the win. So yeah. I think third is fair, just stop game penalties, mate, and you get higher. Now, before we get on to our number one pick, which is the same, I just want to shout out a couple of our Patreon members. If you're on Patreon or you're thinking about joining Patreon, you can,

the links in the description. We do a little ask a century before each episode. It's called the briefing. You get a little overview, what we're going to talk about. You get to weighing. You give some points. So we have a few names that came up from the Patreon that we haven't mentioned properly on our list.

And the ones that keep coming the most. So Liam, for example, here has said that he's ranked, Kimi Antigani first, the same with us, with the staff and second, the same as you. And then he's got Bortoletto in third. So Bortesocke has to come up with either our lists. He's also got the clearing fifth not come up on either of our lists. Why did those two not make your list?

Are they closed to your list? Was there a reason you haven't got them in there? Yeah, I said they are. By the way, we didn't really mention it. Antonelli first because man's been ridiculous all year. I mean, do we want to say much more on that? I don't even to break it down. Yeah, he's good.

It's pretty good. Yeah, I think they're fair shouts. And we already mentioned Lindblad as a potential. So, Borsoletto is a good shout. I know he's had the better luck versus his teammate this year. But for a driver that when he came in the beginning of last year, who I thought, you know, he's just a, he may just be like a filler driver until Audi come along and they find someone else. He grew through last year. And this year, I think he's been really solid, especially versus Holkenberg.

He's got so many more years of experience over him. So another driver has probably been having a quitely good season and maybe not talked about enough just because of the car. The Bautilette has been very impressive. LeClair, yeah, I can see your argument. It's just the first part of the year was so poopy for him that it doesn't make it. If it went on like the last four races, Lecler gets in for me.

Yeah, I think that's a fair shout. Bortolette is a really interesting one. I think it happened in my top five based on his consistency across the season. Also, the fact that Aoudi couldn't give him a car. that could start properly and go forwards. That never helped. Always hard to rank a driver well on getting back to the place they qualified in because the car is so terrifying off the start line.

Excellent job building a race car. He has been a little inconsistent when it comes to being up against Holkenberg. For example, Spar, he was amazing. The way he finished, I think it was PA in that Audi where I think in straight line terms, they're the second worst engine next to a Honda, of course. It was really impressive that he holds off the likes of Limblaude and Colopinto and Gassie and Lorsing, all that massive battle.

for P8. But then you go to somewhere like Hungary. Again, there's a little bit of recency bias there, of course. But in your freshest memories, he's up against his teammate. And Holgerberg was just so much further down the road than Bortoletto. You know, Holgerberg picks up his first points for Audi. And whilst I have no issue that Bortoleto hasn't scored a point, you know, if he's finishing P11, all good.

It's just how far behind he was of Holkenberg. So there are a couple of those instances where that means I can't put him in the top five. But having a really, really good season. could do the club because he crashed in Monaco and also he decided to sping around a lot in Miami and I just think that was very good exactly and like I said the first half the year for him

has been pretty up and down the down being the most part and the up being the last few races but an encouraging sign for him for the rest of the year that he's got over those issues but yeah it was pretty poopy pretty pooping what a great way to end our first segment there honestly you're welcome guys

always bringing the good stuff always hashtag pretty poopie just like this show anyway we're going to take our first break thanks so much for joining us and getting through it because I know it's just the two of us

it can be kind of chaotic we're going to come back and talk about Stefano de Marley's comments because they are wild speaking of pretty poopie we're going to be talking about F1's boss Steve Sunday as we like to call him

Stefan de de Mankali he's made some more comments Harry He said some things that have been going to some people. My guy, he's trying so hard to win the Stop Talking Award at this year's Elbees, isn't he? He was very angry that he didn't pick it up last year, and he's back with the vengeance. He has been talking about F-1 graphics, essentially, what we see on the screen. There's a lot of fans, especially in the States, that are being struggling to understand what's been going on with the new regulations. And quite validly, quite fair points.

The complaints coming out have sounding a lot like, well, with this yo-yo sale of racing, it's very hard to know what our artificial overtakes. And by artificial, we don't mean, oh, they're battery-assisted. That's fine. It's, oh, I've got no battery left, so I can't actually do anything about it. So this car is just driving straight past me. And what is is a legitimate overtake of? We're kind of on the same playing field.

We're going wheel-to-wheel. We're genuinely fighting for position. I can defend, I can attack. It's a battle. It's very hard to understand where each driver sits up and down the field. And when approached about this problem that's come out, this is what Stefano has. to say.

I think that the truth is exactly the other way around when questions about this. No one is interested in how you drive your car. The people are interested in, if you're overtaking or not, that was the majority of what people said. I agree with you that certain people are focused on this thing that is very important. It's like when you're opening the DRS. People were not interested in what was the point to pass. One should point out that no graphics were getting to notice DRS being used.

I had an incredible and interesting discussion. with, wait for this. George Lucas, yes, the creator of Star Wars, on Saturday at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He was in Hungary and he has given me an incredible view on how the fangs are watching Formula One. And I think that he gave us incredible clarity to see what we can really do to simplify things

because the new fangs, I'm not understanding the truth behind what is behind the scenes. They are fascinating on the fact that there is a lot of action. So I think on that, there is definitely the need for the ones that are so focused on that. What is he saying at this point? It's just saying what? It's a terrible quote.

Anyway, the fact he's asked George Lucas for his feedback here is fascinating. What are your thoughts on the quote? Oh, shut up, Stefano. There's a lot to unpick from what he's saying here. Firstly, he says that fans don't understand the technology or clipping. Well, this is a quote from him. They don't understand our technology clipping or whatever it is because it's too technical. that in itself, dude, is not useful.

This is your sport. That's what happens in this sport at the moment. You can't be like, whatever it is. You're the CEO. Imagine if something like football, soccer, when, oh, tackle foul there, that's a foul. And we won't do yellow and red cards, though. Whatever that is.

But we won't show anyone the yellow or the red cards because they don't understand it. They're not here for the car. They're here for the tackle. They just want the action. Just getting rid of offside because no one understands all of this. It's a vital part of the game. It's structurally happens.

it works and this is how Formula One works. Battery is 47% of these power units. It's quite important. I think overall his comments are just a bit disrespectful to F1 fans because he keeps saying things like for the vast majority of people or the new fans.

And I appreciate there'll be a lot of fans that don't care about seeing this info. But F1 has and it would always be a technological sport. And for a lot of people, still, even new fans, they all find that interesting and useful to see.

And I think even for those fans that aren't interested, as was pointed out in the quote, you were saying, Sam, things like DRS, we did have a graphic, but yeah, it was quite easy to see. And whilst I didn't agree or like DRS very much, it's, you know, perk was it simplicity. You just knew when it was happening. It was a second behind you get DRS, boom.

That's that done. It's the same straight line mode. Yeah. You can see the change on the car physically happen. But I think even just as a as a concept, it was so easy to understand. So, and this was always a risk this year with these rules that they've been so complicated that F1 were going to have a job to explain. Now, we know why they don't want to show the battery graphics because they don't want

to show the super clipping because it doesn't look very good or sound very good. It's why we don't have many on boards anymore, etc., etc. So saying they're not showing it because no one cares, it's just disrespectful to F1. It's just rubbish. It's absolute nonsense. I think what windsed me up the most about it is when we first brought in any kind of battery assistance, you had a graphic that worked because was first. You had the battery graphic.

It was a little battery that was full up all red. And they went down when they pressed the button. And we watched it and it was fine. But it's almost a bit insulting that he's saying they're not doing it because no one cares. It's because you don't want to show it. Because you're worried the results. Anyway, I did some digging, actually. And we give Stefano a little bit of sick because a lot of the time he will,

site surveys that no one ever seems to actually be fed. So I found one of these surveys. Here we go. The title of this part of the survey is F1's core identity and what it still resonates with. And this was taken at the start at the end of the most recent set of regulations. Across all segments, regardless of age, gender, geography or tenure, fans associate Formula One with excellence in performance and innovation. 71% of surveyed fangs say that high performance and precision are the defying attributes of the sport.

62% of fangs cite innovation and technology as core and central to F1's identity. These remain in the top associations underscoreing that technical mastery is still foundational, even as a lifestyle-led element like fashion-stated celebrity gay traction, it is all about technology that is leading the way. So, if technology is so important to all the fangs, while you not open the door to allow them to understand how the technology, that you put in the cars actually works when you have genuine data that says that people are interested in this he's just making it up because like you said he's disappointing in the resulting how it

surfaced on the race track um we got to touch on the george lucas reference please talk about the george lucas reference please i'm confused because he says he was giving me he being george lucas he was giving me an incredible view on how the new fans are watching formula one is he saying that george lucas is a new fan and that is the view that he's seeing because that's just not true. George Lucas watched F1 for a long time. They had a sponsorship deal with Red Bull in the Monaco GP in 2005. Either he's completely unaware of George Lucas's enjoyment of Formula 1 for decades, not good if that is the case,

or he seems to value George Lucas's view of Formula 1 so much higher than anyone else's. George Lucas is like going to new F1 fans. What does you think of the... I'm surveying them on the ground. George Lucas is walking around. Don't worry. Don't mind me, guys. It's just George Lucas here.

And my new job is to survey F1 things. Just such a bizarre, such a bizarre thing to reference, because why would that matter? I mean, you know, George, Love Star Wars, George Lucas, the creator of. Respect the man. Great job, George.

But I'm not sure how he should be the spokesperson for a new F1 fans and what they think of the sport. And he also just comes from such. a different and singular background to so many people. Also, he always watches it from the garage. Like, he's not sitting in the stands. He's not sat at home.

No, he's not watching some cruddy little laptop on his lounge sofa trying to what's going on. I can't quite understand it. Mom, can I have some help, please? I know what's happening? George Lucas says you don't need to go. And George Lucas says George Lucas gets. I just was so baffled by that was the person he shows.

It feels like Formula One from like 15 years ago where like random people just were a part of Formula One and you just get these weird celebrity pop-ups. Anyway, so it's George Lucas this week. Alongside these comments, we've had some scathing quotes from Landon Norris about what's going on at the moment in Formula One. He's being very frustrated that Formula One

is more trying to focus on making more money rather than focusing on its sporting considerations and trying to create a enjoyable sport for both the drivers and, of course, fans like us, for watching. Landon Norris has come out and said this. The thing that's a shame is that Formula One, one's gone too heavily led by the fact it's a business nowadays and not how you can make the sport the best possible.

He's saying it's how you can just make the most money as a business and that's not going it should simply be. That's not how a sport should be run. What do you think of these comments? It's interesting that he said this right before then when one a race, but I think he's acknowledged that F1 has started to listen to the drivers a bit more this year. but it's a tricky one because I think he he is coming from a place of these regulations aren't the best, aren't the most fun.

And for the drive, he's from a driver point of view, they're not the greatest for them to drive. And whilst I know people will say, oh, they're paying millions to do it, just get on with it. It's their job, boohoo, crime here river. I do you understand because the F1 is the pinnacle of motorsball, you know, advertises itself as a pinnacle of motorsport. And whilst, you know, the drivers should just get on with it,

I agree to that to a degree. If you've got 22 drivers on the grid that are all disinterested and demotivated by having to go and drive these cars, you're going to have a lesser sport overall. You know, we're only half a year in, but this carried on for a few years, you might end up losing drivers.

Max Verstappen has been very vocal about the fact he doesn't like, these regulations. Lando Norris, another one he's now come out and said it. Oscar Piastri, another one has been bit quieter, but also doesn't really like them. If you start to lose these stars from the sport,

the sport will lessen in value for it. And I think it's important for the, you know, F1 and Stefano Domenicole to take heed of these warnings from the drivers a little bit because, yeah, like I say, if you end up with a sport of 22 drivers

that don't really want to be there, I think it will soon come back to bite them. Yeah, making money, obviously, is an essential part of any business. But at what point does it stretch beyond, okay, we have quite literally got billions and billions and billions of dollars. Formula One's valuation. I think it's 10 times when it was 10 years ago when Liberty Media bought out Formula One from Bernie. So at what point do they sit there and go, well, not only if we made back our investment, we make it back 10fold, when do we need to start prioritising the product as being a genuinely enjoyable sports,

rather than just the financial capabilities of what we're able to achieve? is this Goliath enterprise now of entertainment. There was a time, you know, 10 years ago, where something like the Dallas Cowboys was higher value than Ferrari. And that's very much flipped now. Ferrari's Formula One team, I think, is estimated to be worth about $10 billion, which is excruciatingly painful,

how expensive that would be to go buy that out now. At what point is that, all right, we have enough money. And I think, Landon Norris is coming from a very, very sound and fair point. A driver who is winning is on the podium regularly, he was fighting at the front of our current world champion is the one turning around the saying at what point do you need to stop thinking only about cash

and actually think about the fact that you know we've got drivers who want to enjoy themselves we've got fans who want to see drivers having fun and fighting and being close and it's exciting not just creating a system that makes more money it just becomes a bit hilarious at that point I suppose yeah I agree and I think it's I think that like I said I think they need to listen

and are you surprised that Domenicali at no point is like just even offering an olive branch of, you know, okay, fine, I admit there's some problems, but we still think overall it's a good product. Man is just doubling down. Serial denier. But it surprises me that, I get it at the start of the year and yes, things have improved a little bit. But to double down again at this point and just be like, it's basically that, I know we reference this meme a lot, the Simpsons meme of, no, no, no. the kids of the problem. But it is. It's what he's saying, you know,

it's like, you know, you guys giving the criticism of the problem here, most people love this. I just, I'm surprised. Where's he pulling that from?

You know, where are these numbers coming from? I know that he'll cite things like, you know, sprint races have an increase, watch viewership, then like a practice session. Well,

yeah, obviously, that's just, you know, the absolute basics of what's going on here. But I think you are right that he is refusing to admit

that he's made a mistake or Formula one has made a mistake in the direction that's gone down. And with that, do you think that there's a genuine risk that they could start to alienate fangs, both long-term seizing fangs and new people who are trying to understand to be involved in the sport? I think there is. I think it's more damaging than F1 realizes for him to keep coming out and just doubling down on this attitude.

Because eventually fans will start to give up if they're not understanding the sport or not enjoying the sport like they used to. I think I know where I know what he's saying is that you know the action has increased so therefore more fans like it and I think there will be a there I no doubt there will be fans out there that do enjoy this version of f1 which is totally fair but I think just to say that that is the only only attitude only opinion of this current rule set is is it's just naive and I think it could come back to bite them eventually eventually if things don't change or if they don't, you know, admit there's some, some things wrong with with F1 at the moment.

So, yeah, did you see, by the way, after Hungary, they made, there were like three social posts at least, they made such a fuss of the fact that it was like the fastest speed recorded at the Hungarian GP before. Was it signs or someone? Because he had like a triple toe. Yeah. Shut up. I know, this speed masker thing is just, it's, I'm going to say the word, it's propaganda.

It is. To try and make it more enjoyable for people on social media. I think there's a real risk that they can lose a lot of new fresh fans that have coming over the last couple of years. We've got this drive-to-surviv audience, which is very important to Formula One. You know, it's an incredibly valuable thing that Formula One has created. It's been fantastic for the sport to see so many people from all different weights of life go, I want to watch Formula One. I'm involved.

Drive to Survive made it understandable. Formula One is such a complex entity that when you can watch something bite-sized and you can get a little piece of it and you understand what's going on, something like Drive to Survive, something like hopefully like this show despite it being a bit chaotic,

you listen or you watch, you go, oh, okay, that makes sense now. Or yeah, I'll watch out for that bit and you see it happen and it works. And by creating a world where actually new fans who are still trying to work out, who do I follow, what am I watching?

Why is that overtake happened? And you just focus on, I'm right, I'm right, I'm right, I want to make more money, let's make more money, you end up risking the fact that, you know, the long-term fans that have been around a long time, they're going to stay around. Fines that you and I will ride this out and there'll be another set of regulations in five years' time, and we'll go, cool, we might enjoy that, we might not, we've sat through some tough stuff in Formula One, elimination qualifying experience to mind,

but the new fans who've got a wealth of products to go and watch, so many sports vying for your attention, why should Formula One take up five, six hours of your weekend every other weekend? It's not like it's a small commitment. You are living a life as a Formula One fan. You've got to be invested. And I do think that they run a risk of saying, we don't care about you.

We don't care about you understanding what's going on. We don't care about you being passionate about all the elements of Formula One and aspiring a new generation to be long-term fans of Formula One. And they risk losing this. And all that they built over the last decade, which again, as I mentioned, has been fantastic. for the sport, it is a small risk that you go and lose that and lose those markets that you've just built into.

You've referenced that elimination qualifying. That's a good thing to shout out because that was 2016, I think. Yeah. The dying days of the Bernie Axton era, but even, I mean, it lasted two races and I remember Bernie doubling down after race one, but even that, even he recognized

when things weren't right and they stopped it. So I know it's a different thing, you know, much easier to change the qualifying format than it's a regulation change. But even Bernie Alkeston could maybe admit he was wrong or make a change when things weren't going right. Also really quickly, two races to test something and go, this isn't working. Fair. I can accept two races.

It was a horrible idea. But it lasting for two hours of my life. Yeah. It was done. But, yeah, and just at least admitting that this didn't work will move on, not just doubling down and trying to carry on as if it's all fine. I think what's frustrating is the constant minor adjustments in the rules set and not just having a proper sit down with all the stakeholders are going.

What isn't working and what can we genuinely do about it to put out a statement of this will be the next steps, the clarity, all we're going to bring forward. But, you know, if we're in charge, Harry, the world would be a much saneer, enjoyable place. I wouldn't say saner, but it'd be more enjoyable. Right, okay, we're going to take another break on the other side. We're going to be talking about Hockenheim and maybe the return of a German Grand Prix. Come on. I shall do the next segment entirely in German.

Yeah. We're talking Germany, the German Grand Prix. We're not having a German Grand Prix for ages. Talking Germany. We are. Welcome. Twitter talk. It's good to get another language on the show.

It's not. But it would be good to get the German GP back. Are you a fan? Oh, a massive fan of Hockenheim. Yeah, this has come, hasn't it? As the, I think, new owners of Hockenheim have approached F. FWod and basically, they've like tapped them on the shoulder and gone, hi, yeah. We'd like to do this again, please, if you don't mind.

Just kind of, hello, Hockenheim. Hello. If we should like to come back, maybe, this is a one-off. There's a lot going on with a calendar at the moment. We've obviously had Sopang now hosting the Bahrain Grand Prix. That's bizarre and confusing. I can't go back. I can't do again.

Yeah, listen to the last episode. if you want to hear the reaction to all that conversation. And of course, there might be some changes yet to come as well with what's going on across the Middle East in the globe at the moment. It's, you know, there's a lot happening. And that means that people to keep safe and to make sure that things are viable. We may need to relocate some races. But equally, for a longer term journey,

Formula One, I've been looking at new market areas for a long time. And there has been a trend over the years that Formula One has stepped away, really, from Europe as a kind of a new entry point. We've been looking at a lot, of course, of the Americas. that's been most popular destination for new races to appear in, with, of course, Coatine now being a bit of a mainstay, but Miami is newer, of course, and now, Vegas, the newest of them all in the US.

But maybe something that could be interesting is going back to something like Germany. Now, it says here, this is from the race, that Domeg Kali has hinted that the continent of Europe could become increasingly important again, based on fan interest, which is a really bizarre way to look at the home of Formula One. That's just really odd.

which could boost the hopes of venues such as Hockingheim. D'amanicali had this to say. We are watching, of course, the growth of the United States, he said. We are also watching the growth of Europe because it's becoming an important market again, because the growth, the numbers are there. What does he mean? Again, he's so hard he wants this award, man.

Two on the show today. Yeah, I mean, Europe has always been an important, if not the most important or most popular place for Formula One. That and if you're counting the UK as part of Europe, which 52% don't. But yeah, I don't know why he's saying again. Like it fell away. It's been there in FON's, you know, darkest times of popularity. Europe has always been the bedrock of its fan base.

So that I find odd. But, but at least I'm, you know, I'm happy that he's at least acknowledging the fact that there are fans in Europe. Well done, Stefan. And the fact that, you know, this is kind of offered from Hockenheim to rejoin the calendar that he is, you know, he's acknowledging that and is willing to talk about it. I think his secondary part of that quote was saying basically, I know Hockenheim said that though, but they also know what the other countries pay

for hosting a race, the fee for the hosting a race, which is the main reason why Hockenheim had to drop in the first place because they just couldn't afford to do it anymore. But that was, you know, last race you had there was 2019, so we're, you know, seven, eight years ago now. Things, things have changed, things have moved long. So I'd hope that, again, it gets back to what Landon, Norris

is saying it's all just money talking at the moment in Formula One. But I'd hope, you know, given what they're seeing with the popularity of F1 in Europe, if we're going to use that as a phrase, that he might consider this. And, you know, we've seen Imala rejoin. I know that was because of COVID, but it stayed for a bit.

Portemau has joined, went away, is coming back again, which I think that's more surprising in that it's coming back. Yeah, I genuinely was surprised about that. Because that was a COVID one. It dropped off,

but to come back again, I think is an encouraging sign. So I think that's probably what has given Hockenheim some hope here. But I'd love it, man. Hockenheim's a great. It was great when it was the old track. It's great now.

You get some banging races there. I'd love to see Formula One go back to Hockheim. Yeah, fully with you. Bring back the Hock, both Benjamin. For the love of God, please. The Ing and the Unheim, please. The Ing and the Unheim immediately. I'm going to love it.

It's a great race track. And Batwing, that was a wee lad. Formula One used to do a lot of things like, oh, we've got a world champion from that country. will have a race in that country. And they don't really do that as much anymore. It's very much led by who's got the biggest wallets and who's willing to pull out the cash, put it on the table.

And this is what we heart back to to the earlier segment of money is great. We all like money, let's be honest. But when you get given a lot of money or you get offered a lot of money, what does it matter? It's a lot of money. And at what point do you go,

this lot of money is a nine out of ten good time? having a lot of fun here at Hockingham with this lot of money, and this lot of money might be a one. It might be a seven. We don't know what it's going to be, but it's a lot of money. Well, I'd rather you take the nine out of ten, and slightly less a lot of money,

because, frankly, you're still getting paid a lot, and we're all having fun. Do you all follow that, folks? There's a lot going on there. I'm sure you are a smarter bunch than I, so I'm sure it works, makes sense. Germany holds a real key part of Formula One's heritage, it's history,

and what we do now as well. You know, with throwbacks to such huge names in the sport, such as Michael Schumach, a seven-time world champion, to now when we've got Mercedes and Audi two huge German car brands competing at the forefront, especially Mercedes, of course, but Audi is entering. Interest it feels like it hasn't ever really been higher. Holgerberg, of course, still on the racetrack as well as a German driver.

It just feels like there is obvious demand for somewhere like Germany to host a race. If it isn't Hockenheim, fine. It'll be a shame, but I understand that. But as a market, I think Germany is a real core space that we should be looking to go to and go back to. Would you be shocked if it actually appearing on the calendar in coming years this season, maybe as a replacement?

Or do you think that we will end up going to another Chinese Grand Prix or somewhere in Africa or something like that? I would be surprised if it came back, equally as surprised as I was when Port-Amar got announced. I think the only way I see it happening is it would get some sort of rotational deal like Spa is now got I think that's as of as of next year that starts yeah yeah um so I think that would be the only way because I don't think Hockenheim could afford to do it every year anyway quite frankly but you're right in what you're saying I think it's good to flag Mercedes and now

Audi there are two big German car brands in the sport now though obviously was just Mercedes I'd be surprised if they weren't helping to lobby this along a little bit because it would make perfect sense for them both to have a home race. I know for the most part, like you said, it's more been based in the past on fans rather than teams. And Hockenheim never really recovered after Schumacher retired for some reason, despite Sebastian Vettel literally being there right away, it just never quite picked up the same way as it did when,

when Shimecha was there. But like I said, F1's a different sport now. It's got a lot more fans in general and fans of teams, not just of drivers. So, yeah, I'd be surprised if Audi and Mercedes

aren't helping to try and boost this, this bid along. But yeah, overall, I would be surprised, but very happy if it did come back. I would be shocked if they could outbid a lot of other markets.

We've had lots of conversations about, you know, Rwanda, possibly hosting a Grand Prix, return to South Africa. It's like I'll be a race in the likes of Thailand. Vietnam, of course, we had that a little while ago. So there's lots of conversations about where other tracks would come from.

And the fact they can't even fit them in on the calendar at this point. We're racing from the start of March all the way through to the first week in December with a winter break and the preseason. It's for long. It's a very hectic schedule. So the fact that we are trying to fit in another Grand Prix, it would surprise me if Hockenheim is able to buy its way onto the calendar in its current state, its current investment.

But it will be a big win. for fans. It'll be a big wing for Formula One and a massive wing for the European market, which is integral to what Formula One does. So you can't bring in a trap like Hockenheim. And if it isn't Hockenheim, the Nürberg ring is so iconic, right? It's one of the most iconic races in the world. You've got the 24 hours of McLaugh and the Nuremberg ring, of course, attached to it. It will be an amazing venue to go back to if we can't do Hockenheim. So it's not like there's not options available. We used to have a back and forth as well. There was a conversation about Matt occurring.

it'll be selling off to go back to the German market. I agree. Make it happen. Stop saying stupid things, Stefano, and make that happen instead. Say some good things like, we've introduced Hockenheim to the calendar. Yeah, that would get you off the Stop Talking Award list. You'd be on it never again. Well. Well, well, there's certainly rash.

Maybe I should have on the Stop Talking Awards. Folks, that's all the serious conversation, because after the next break, we're playing the stupidest game in late breakings history. It's real or real. Welcome back. If you're still with us, this show's about to get even more chaotic and bizarre because we're going to play a game

before played for a long time. It's basically reserved for when either me or Harry have to control what goes on the show. And that is, Real on or Real! It goes on a bit, doesn't it? I don't remember that taking that long before. For sure, a week,

what can you do in the length of that intro? Because it's such a long bit of music. Definitely not taken from the hit TV show. Deal or no deal. has no relevance of that that this game rhymes exactly with that show as well. Legally, very different. Legally has no relation whatsoever. We do not claim anything to do with deal or no deal.

Great. Welcome, folks, to our once a year maybe, if even that. Real or no real. The return of real or no real. How does it work? It's basically just like true or false, let's be real. But I will read out a statement. Don't slow the illusion

Sorry, sorry And Sam will have to say Whether he thinks That statement is real Or not, not, no real I think to really judge this up next time We should have the real answer The true answer in a box

And so I will say Real! And then we'll pull the tab and open the box It will say real is that or no real And we'll go, ah Okay, so if you'd like to be props for the In a year's time when we do this again.

I've got a year. I've got until Ben's birthday next year. So that's, yeah. Oh, I will prepare. I'll also paint them green. Okay. Right. How many have we got?

Six. More than six, maybe one, two, three, four, five, six, eight. I like that you don't know how many you did. And then you also had to count them live on the show. I didn't number them this time. I forgot to count again. Right. Good.

He's 20 going again. This, the theme of this real or no real. There's a theme. The theme. is messages from our WhatsApp chat. Real or no real? Oh no, they're all real. Okay.

Okay. Okay. This is a peek behind the late breaking curtain, folks. You're about to see what happens in the chats for the show. It's going to put the tension music on. I love the tension music. Okay. Number one is,

my nan could have driven faster than that and she's 86. That's real. Is that real or no real? That's definitely real. Have I got to do the banker thing as well? As part of the comedic skit. This is why I do this. I don't know.

Oh, the phone is it. Hang on. You might have a way for him to pick up. That's a joke, isn't it? Hello? Yeah, I know it's back already. I can't believe it. Already.

End two months. Yeah, yep, yep. Okay, fine. Yeah, I'll tell him. It's not real. I've made that up. Oh, no way. I've made that entirely up.

It feels like something you would have said. I genuinely thought it was something that I said Didn't know the age of your nan Well, she is dead No, I know, before that, obviously She has sadly passed away She has no age now Good

She's forever with me Right, question number two So you've got none so far Question number Stop moving away from the mic I can't reach the button Question number two Making a decision to call

wee, poo-poo at 3am in the morning. You can't say you're not living the dream. Yeah, it's real. It's got to be real. Can't wait for this chat. Hello? Yeah, I know. I don't know why I said we-wee-poo.

I know. Yeah, all right, I'll tell him. You're correct, it's real. Yeah! He's a great chat with the banker, by the way. Thank you. Said by Ben Hocking about producer Kirstie because she'll see how to cull.

Someone has said, I'd probably you, mate. Probably. Yeah. It does sound a lot like me. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Good. That's one.

You've done well so far. One out of two. She's gone well. Number three. Excellent. Yeah. Complete left tangent, but I need to tell you lot.

This guy in front of me at security was having his bag checked because the scanner detected something and my guy had an entire entire family-sized block of Cathedral City cheese in his handwage. Some of these you have you just written Some are made up by me And some are actual messages in our group I feel like we've definitely had A conversation like that before Yeah but have we had that conversation

Have we had it in the WhatsApp group Or have we actually just had it face to face And you've gone oh yeah Inspiration This is tough to know It's just the I would say that's no real No real, okay.

Can't wait to hear this Dairy chat. Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't like Cathedral City? That's a shame. I know, I know. All right. All right. All right.

The Jesus are available. Sponsor us, please, Cathedral City. I'm not that's intolerant. You're wrong. It's real. Of course it is. It was by me and I sent it in the chat. Apparently, I don't remember this.

It does feel very you. I don't remember this happening, but a man apparently was having his luggage checked and he had an entire family lock of cheese. You can hear. how each of us speak in WhatsApp message as well. It's because I said my guy. Yeah, you are very much a my guy guy, guy. Yeah, okay, fun.

Question number four, question. Excellent. I'm so excited. Okay. New game idea. We describe every team principle using only a kitchen appliance. That would be so late-breaking. That would be...

Frank Fassero is definitely a whisk. Why? Don't question it. I think that's no real. No real, okay. Why did you ever put this part of the game in it? It's hilarious. It's exhausting.

Hello? Yeah, I know. I know. You like the whiskey? I don't know why I said whiskey, but he's mental. All right. Yeah, thanks, I'll tell him.

I like all my saying. Yeah, thanks, I'll tell him. He's giving me the answer. Great. Obviously. It's not real. Yes. Well done. Well done. That was entirely made up by me. But again...

Good game. I think there's someone in that. I think the F1 things based on kitchen appliances has got something. Freddie whisk. Friggy whisker. Oh, nice. A whiskey for sir. Nice. Question of, I don't know. One, two, three. Question the number of these. Five. Good. You could put numbers next to them now.

Nah. No, no, no. Um, this one is... potato boy had already got back to me. I know it's real. Asked if we'd like to do a tour tomorrow. I'm saying so. Yeah, real. Oh, it's so badocking. Hello?

Yeah, I know. Yeah, I don't like this either. I know. He loves it. What you mean? Cool, thank you. Bye. It's not real.

This is actually a trick question. He said, Pickle Boy, not potato boy. All right. So I was right to believe it was real. You've just been rude and changed it. That's the toughest one on there. But the quote itself is technically real.

It's just he said pickle. What was it about? What we talk about to have pickle boy? Yes. So it is Ben that sent it. We were a vegetable pickle factory. It must be Ben that sent it. Great.

Yeah, it was. It was Ben. Question number six. Oh, good. Sent you for an absolute plate of tortellini. Ooh, we like doing a a sink you with a kind of a left turn at the end of it

it's like saying the funniest way you can say you're drunk anything sounds like you're drunk I'm absolutely moped no, there's a work No, it doesn't work Carpart, anything gazebo, no on a moped

Trolley, moped You're on the streets of England on moped, I'm not I'm going to say that is real. You're going for real. I like tortling. Hello.

Yeah, I'd go for penny, actually. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I'll tell him. Really? That's what you choose. I'm just in making stuff up. No, spoiling the illusion. It's real, wait.

Yes. You said it to me after I got the timing wrong for the MLOGP qualifying session. Oh, that makes sense. It's all the thing. rather than the bag of chips as a plate of tortidini. That's really good for me. Good. Next.

Yes. I'd like to make... Next, I think it's seven. I think it's seven. I'd like to make a formal complaint to all of Cornwall as the West Cornwall Pasty Company just point blank refused to me... Point bank refused to me to sell me absolutely anything apart from a coffee. It's a horrible experience, by the way.

Well, you're not allowed to have anything. Yeah, go pastures. From West Cornwall. Yeah. I'm going to say that is real. Hey. Oh. Fang of a pasty.

Who isn't? Hello. Yeah, I know. Passies are excellent. The goat of snacks, you say. Yeah, I know. I agree. Yeah.

Is it a snack? I don't know. All right. Yeah, cool, I'll tell him. It's quite a large snack. If you go for a cocktail one, that's pretty snackish. Too much money. It's a small crust.

You're right. That is real. And I actually did leave the end of this off because it would have given it away straight away. Wouldn't sell me anything apart from a coffee because I have a nut allergy. Gow just wanted a pan of raisin. I knew it was Kirstie. And of course being producer Kirstie. I knew it was Kirstie.

Couldn't get a pan of raisin from West Cornwall. By the spastic. everything is covered in nuts in that shop Oh, God Number eight The final, maybe The Chubble Wagon is confirmed Sorry, say that again

The Chubble wagon What would that be? Chubb Chubble C-H Spell C-H-U-B-B-L E Chubble The Chubble

what would that be? I think that is no real and I think you've changed something or reference something. Got it, you'll bring it to all then, did it? Cricky off the hook? Straight away.

Hello? Hello? Yeah, I don't know what Chubble means either. Yeah. Okay, cool, I'll tell him. No, it's real, mate. Oh. It's from me.

I've no idea why, but it was in reference to the car we had in Austin last year. I figured that it would be about some tripping Austin, but why would you call it Chubble? I don't know. I could go back and find out if you like to. I wonder if we called it? No. I have to puzzle that one.

Do you remember our trip to Austin last year when we just kept calling the car the chubble wagon all the week? famously. No. No, actually. Not once. Excellent. Nice one. Enjoy bad. Thank you. That was the return and never to be heard again for another year. Real or real WhatsApp edition behind the curtain. Behind the curtain, yeah. Well, there's not many things we've got left to do, but there is one thing we've got left to do,

and that's to bringing a dear old friend. Why is he dying every time? Didn't he see if the army? He's okay? He's just... It's like the end of his breath. Get out of his lunging, you go? It's sort of soot coming down by the chimney.

Oh, oh, oh, oh. Yes, it's a birthday shoutouts from the Father Christmas of birthdays. And we have July to do, which is a lovely month. Harry is your very own birthday month. It was, yeah, ignore the fact that this is now August,

guys, but we saved it for the Father Christmas of birthdays to be here. Oh, ho, ho, ho. Happy birthday. to so many wonderful patriarchal boys and girls. That's that one. That's new. So many.

So new. He's just talking, mate. Anyway, Brandon Brayson, happy birthday. Happy birthday to you, Brandon. And yon-o-old genre, I'm assuming yonar-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-th birthday. Same birthday as English talk, quack-quack. Happy birthday to you. Toasty toast.

Happy, happy-ha birthday. and then Jenny Jones on July 8th Hartham birthday First name only for Louis. I assume it's Louis Armstrong. I assume. Do that as Louis Armstrong, this happy birthday. Let's not do you. Let's not be happy birthday to Louis for July.

That's happy birthday. Sir Jacob Byrne. I want that title. That's great. A happy birthday to you, sir. Same birthday as Harry, I think. What was the date? It's the tank

She or isn't the tank Close enough, mate Every year I get that wrong Close enough Say I'll Um Up here birthday to John Big American Daddy

Oh Oh July 16th Oh who's this Someone else is being requested Let me rest my voice While my I know

Is that Well Well can you Hello Happy birthday to cat Is this is just 10 minutes of me Ben's got his head in his hands

like what I'm doing course he has I'm Michael Cohn I just want to say happy birthday to Kett for July 22th thanks very much oh Michael Canyon lovely man

Lydia happy birthday for July 24th Megan happy birthday for July 28th Greg Jones July 30th Hopper, hopper birthday. Rob and Matt,

same birthday, July 31st, end of the month. And also little shout-out to Rosie, my fiancee, the beautiful lady that she is. Happy birthday for July 29th. There you go. Happy birthdays all around.

I'll be back in August. It is August. Yeah, I know, with the end of August. Give them a break. There's a lot going on, all right? It's not easy. It's asking you do it next month. No.

Anyway, That concludes, Swaggers being this episode without Ben, he will be back in the middle of the week, and normality will be restored, which is fantastic. Thanks so much for listening. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for sticking out, because, you know, Meng ever easing, it's just the two of us. And we appreciate you, all the love, all the love and care. Join Patreon if you really want to hear more of that stuff.

Follow us on Discord, the links in the description. Follow us on social media, late-breaking F-1 everywhere. And we'll see you in midweek for some more F1 news, chats, a bit of fun, bit of games. You know, it all works at this point. We'll see you there. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Harry Eat. And remember, keep breaking late.