The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Ranking the best F1 2021 liveries! | Episode 106

Episode Date: March 10, 2021

Ferrari were the 10th and final team to unveil their livery on Wednesday - so it's time for Pimp My F1! The boys will be rating their favourite and least favourite liveries ahead of pre-season testing for the 2021 season.Make sure to SUBSCRIBE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to look out for new episodes every Thursday and Grand Prix Sundays. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast. Ten teams, ten reveals of liveries can mean only one thing. Pimp my F1 is coming at you. The annual tradition of the three of us, giving out awards for the liveries.

We know you love it. And it's going to lead our podcast today, Harry Ede and Sam Sage, alongside me, Ben Hocking. Wow, guys. I mean, a bit of a mix as we usually get. I'm excited to know your opinions, really. I don't care for yours, so it's fine.

Cool. And that's how this podcast will work. We just don't care. I mean, there you go, folks. For regular lists, because if you haven't worked out, we love each other very much, but also despise each other to the eighth degree.

Yeah, that's done a very good job of summarising that within one sentence, very concise. Yeah, Pimp My F1 is going to form the main topic today. That's where we'll give out a few awards, five different awards based on the liveries, some of which they'll definitely want to win the teams, some of them maybe not so much. We're going to be talking Ferrari in 2021 after their 2020 season, which you could argue wasn't their best year ever, how much can they bounce back? What's their ceiling?

And then we're bringing back F1 on the clock, Sam versus Harry, in a game of F1 trivia. I mean, I can't wait to see how that goes. It was a blinding success the first time we did it. It was so bad. But you have to worry about that for another 30 minutes or so because we are going to start today with Pimp My F1. Oh, I love it.

Five categories coming your way. We've got best looking, runner up, most improved, biggest letdown, and the dreaded worst livery. Who is that going to go to? We're going to leave that one to last. So we're going to start positively on this. I'm going to start with best looking. So of the 10 teams, Sam, which one are you plucking for here?

Now, I just want to live a little disclaimer. They have not been out of the track. We have not seen them actually are on TV. These things can change. So if you're listening to this, the week after testing, and we've all gone, bloody hell, that looks lovely, isn't it? Then this might change. But for now, we're going to go with what we're seeing on the images,

the reveals, the renders, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The best looking car this season, newcomers on the blockaster, Astor Martin, and smashed it out the park. It's green! It's green! We're here. We're back.

The green boys. It looks lovely. I liked the neon that they were meant to have, the neon yellow that was meant to trace the car. They just swapped it out for the pink because of VWT. I respects it. It's a good change in terms of incorporating a sponsor. It's not overpowering.

I like how it works. They've kept that traditional green on there. It's a gorgeous British-Ratian green. The helmet that stroll seems to have as well, with the wings down the side, with that kind of almost pearlescent chromatic green on the helmet, absolutely stunning as well. The car, if they stick around for long enough, if they maybe get some success and they maintain that theme, could become an iconic Formula One livery for the years

to come. I actually love it. For me, that is the best-looking car on the grid. I guess the question just works around, where is it going to appear on the grid? Is it going to, how far up the grid will it appear? Harry, what's your opinion on this? What's your best-looking livery of 2021? on. We're going to start off on a bad foot here, guys, because I have to agree with Sam. Now, full disclaimer here for anyone listening, the car company actually pay my wages. So I'm obliged to agree, but I actually do agree. I think it's the best one. There's a close second for me, but we'll get to that because he can beep a runner up. But yeah, look, I love the green. It could only be improved by gold wheels. Ben, shut up. Yes.

Which we didn't have, unfortunately. But, yeah, seeing a green F1 car back on the garage, you know, we all miss catering. So, yeah, I miss Jaguar. I miss Jaguar. And we miss Jaguar too. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, no, it's a good looking car. But yeah, I think that we've got some, we've got some tasty liveries this year.

So it's been a slightly hard one to choose. There's been some bad ones, too. But anyway, we'll get to that. I can't believe we've reached a stage here where our opinions are so important. PIMMyF1 has become so important that companies are willing to buy out members of late breaking in order for them to appear at the top. God. Yeah, that sounds like that way.

Ferrari, if you want to sponsor me next year, I am completely up for bribery. Fully okay with it happening. Now, despite numerous offers from teams up and down the grid, I am staying in. impartial here. And I've had enough of your agreeing. So I'm not going to go for the Aston Martin. I'm going with another team that starts with A, which to be fair, only narrows it down to about eight teams, but we're getting there. Argos. Don't give them ideas, all right? I don't want any more A teams. That's not allowed anymore. I'm going with the Alpine. I think it was a beautiful livery. And I was really disappointed to lose the Renault, because it was one of my

favorite liveries on the grid. And part of me is still a bit sad that it's no longer there because not only was it a great livery, it was a very distinct livery from the rest of the grid. You know, there is a lot of a lot of red and blue going on. And Alpine have contributed to both of those. But I do think it is a brilliant livery. I'm excited to see what, you know, Alonzo and Ockon can do in the car. I'm always a bit skeptical when it comes to new liveries. It's a lot easier to give a new livery a better rating because it's new. Everyone does love a bit of new. So you have to kind of take it in perspective, but I really do think it is a great livery. And they've done a wonderful job about this. I don't know why. It gives me an air of Prost, but not the team rather than

Alan Prost himself. He looks quite distinct from the glass. Wifts of Alan Prost. Yeah, it's like his after shave. Air of Prost by Prost. If it isn't, there's your idea, Alan. You're welcome. So, yeah, I'm going to disagree with you. The Aston Martin has not taken the top prize for me. I've gone for the Alpine, but as a trio, I think we have to give the award to Aston Martin. They've won something already. It's a great start. Well done to the Greens. Moving on to runner up. Sam, what have you got for this one?

Well, now there's a reason why it's runner up, folks. firstly, they have contributed to the sea of blue that I am honestly despising on Formula One at the moment. I can't agree with Harry that we've got taste of liberties this year because it is blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue across the board with a little bit of white and a little bit of red throwing in. And honestly, ban it. One team gets blue.

Don't care what shade of blue either. One team should get blue. One team should get all white. One team should get all red. Everyone else says plenty of colours. Get out there and choose some. So they also took away the gorgeous yellow and black livery. That is the reno, which was by far my favourite livery last time out.

So the Alp is second because it is the best blue slash reg livery on the grid. It's very pretty. I like how shiny it is and I'm a simple man and I enjoy shiny things. So they've done that brilliantly. But if it was yellow, it might have. one. But it hasn't. And it's the runner-up. And I think that is as good as I'll ever be at the moment until they decide to mix it up,

mixing it in, let me begin. So, yeah, Alpine second, run her up. It looks lovely. I'm sick to death of blue and white. And people are saying that oh, they're different shades. Just can you wait until we get on the timing screen on the left-hand side. And it's like, oh, Meseegis is a turquoise. Alpine

a dark blue. Alpha Tauri are a bit blue. Williams are bright blue. Hars could be white or blue. It's stupid. It's stupid. I don't like it. It's a different conversation for a different day. But honestly, annoying. But Alpine has made it look pretty. So that's second place. I mean, Hask could just use the red, white and blue colours as part of, oh, hang on. I feel like that shouldn't be allowed.

Oh, yeah. I love to think about that. So you've gone for Alpine in a second. Even though you are sick to death of blue, you do concede it is a good livery on that. It's gorgeous, yeah. Harry, second place for you. Disgusted, because I'm about to agree with Sam for a second time in the space of 20 minutes. Just call me an influencer. Yeah, it's going to be the Alpine.

I love the Alpine. And I just think it's a bloody good livery. I'm going to ignore the blue grievances. I do agree with Sam on the blue thing, but he's made his point on that. Remind me, then, we have to send Sam his weekly dose of blue paint. that he asked for, so we'll do that. Yeah, no, yeah, I'll be for me. Love it, I think it looked.

I love the, like, metallicy matte finish. Boom, love that a lot. It's somewhere in between, yeah, metallic and Matt, obviously. Yeah, and also, Alonso's helmet this year is like retro 2006 Alonzo, so it means you'll have to do the dance. Oh! Oh, there you go. You're baiting him into that.

You knew what you were doing. I do want. Bring it on. Yeah, anyway, so, yeah, I love the LP. I think it's, as Sam says, out of the blue cars on the grid. I think it's the best looking one. Cool. So you two are doing way too much agreeing for my liking,

although in reality, my opinion isn't actually that much different to yours. I've just reversed first and second place here because I'm going for Astor Martin as second. I was quite worried about this because my expectations were so high for a green livery returning to the grid. Now, I was really worried that it was just going to underperform on those lofty expectations, and it hasn't done. It's a really good livery. And adding the pink in there as well, I thought it was going to go one or two ways. It was even going to work or it was going to look hideous. And they managed to make it work. No, leave the money. Don't do the transaction on here. here, they'll know about the, don't, thank you. I'm assuming it's the same guy that spoke to you,

Harry, but, um, no one speaks to me. Why? I will say there is a reason that Astor Martin is not first. There is a plague amongst F1 liveries that has existed for years now. And it's known by three letters. J, C, B. The JCP logo ruins any livery that it appears on. It did it for Williams for years, and now it's managed to migrate over to Aston Martin, and it just sticks out like some awful yellow blotch on the side of the car. I think the only livery the JCP logo could look good on is Alexander Rossi's indie car.

I don't think there's any other livery it would work on. So JCP marks down for that, but otherwise, good stuff. Yeah, weird that they can never, they're always in the yellow and black and white colours. They never like blend in with the livery, do they? It feels like every year they just come along at the last minute for whatever team they're with and be like, you need to stick our logo on the, oh, hang on. That'll do. It's because JCB stands for, just can, baby!

And they do what they want. Moving on, swiftly. Most Improved. What have you got for this one, Harry? This is a tricky one. Yeah. I think I could almost give it to one of the top two again. But for Most Improved, I'm going to give it to the Williams,

which is a bold statement. I, okay, it's not my favourite. livery in the world. But Williams since they lost martini and they were martini for a long time with the same livery over and over again which we got a bit bored of.

They've kind of been like drifting along with that weird toothpastey one, then that really light blue rocket one which is rubbish. At least this one, they haven't got any sponsors which is kind of why they've been able to do it, I think. But this one, they've just gone, do you know what?

F it, bleep it. We do what we want there, lads. We're going to put blue on it. It's going to be jaggy. It's going to be a bit of yellow, a bit of white. So, yeah, I think compared to last year, love it. Love it. It's got its own identity now.

I'm here for it. Again, not my favourite, but it's my most improved. I don't know about you guys, but I'm still disappointed that Williams ended up racing with the livery that they did end up racing with and not the one that they released in preseason. I thought there was a quality livery, just looked really retro. And we never got to see it.

So, big shame. Most improved, Sam, what are you going for? Am I allowed to not have a most improved? If you really don't think any have improved. It's pretty tough. I'm probably going to say Alpha Romeo, and this is by the skin of its teeth. I think out of white and red cars, which is the other plague among Formula One livery design. blue or white and red is a constant that only one team should be allowed to have.

I don't care if it's your team colours. Change it if someone's really got it. It does look very pretty. Alfa Mayo does always look very pretty. What I would love them to do, though, that Valentine's Day livery that they released was exquisitely nice. It was gorgeous. I do like the white and red they have.

It's very punch. It's very nice. But for me, it's just like, it's just. a nice car. It's only the most improved because I have many bad things to say about many other liveries that we won't get into, luckily for them. Just the other contender on there was McLaren, I suppose, because I think they've just done exactly the same thing. And I liked it, and it still looks nice. But Alfa Mayo changed a bit more. So that's why for me, they're the most improved. This actually was the hardest topic to pick from for me.

I feel like with the alpha-a-maio, it seems if everything that was white on the car last year is now red, and everything that was red on the car last year is white. I mean, it's a genius and someone's making a lot of money out of a very simple change, but good stuff. I'm going to go with the other alpha on this one. I'm going to go with Alpha Tauri, because I think they, I didn't necessarily dislike the car last year. I thought it was a good livery. I wasn't quite as high on it as I think the consensus was. But I actually think this one's an improvement a bit more of the blue, particularly on the front of the car.

I just think it's a more refined, better version of the one they had last year. And this one, you know, I think the last year's one was probably middle of the pack. This year I've got Alfa Tauri's is probably behind the top two. So, yeah, well done, Alphatarini. You get most improved from me. I think that is a stunning car. And if Ashton Martin and Alpine didn't create cars and they didn't know how to paint things, I think Al-Fa-Tarro will probably win it for me.

It's interesting that for the most improved, we've actually come up with three different answers, but for the most part, in terms of at the front, we've got very similar opinions here, which means we either all have an eye for detail and design, or none of us do. Definitely the latter. I can say definitely the latter. Yeah. Doesn't mean anything. Category 4 or 5 is biggest letdown.

What have you got for this one, Sam? So this one for me is torn between three cars. And these three cars are the usual top three that we will find in a season. It is between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Now, I'll give different reasons for each one. Ferrari have put a green stamp. on their car. I don't know why.

We're not sponsoring them as much as I'd love to think we are. It does look like the LB Green, and I very much like the LB Green. I don't love it around red. But what I do love about the Ferrari is that burgundy into lighter red fade. For me, very pretty. The Red Bull is in the biggest letdown,

because I just thought they might, for once, do something a little bit different. but their brand is so on brand that there is literally the same car. But they've got a watermelon flavour now in terms of their energy drink. So I thought they might go pure yellow. Now Renault isn't available and almost invert the colours a bit. And I quite like that. But no, it's so boring.

I'm so tired of it, Red Bull. And Mercedes are there because AMG. So I think I'm going to have to give the biggest letdown to Mercedes because the AMG on the front with just the all blacks around looks gorgeous and it's really cool AMG is a great part of the

Mercedes family they make their sports cars it's great the back part where the number is it just looks like someone got a bit happy with the copy and paste tool and it doesn't blame very well and I love the stars I absolutely love the stars that they had last year I love the little red star for Nicky

I know that's behind where the driver is now racing that's not on show we're not going to see that a lot of the time at all. And I really like that they paid that kind of honour to Nicky and they're not doing that anymore in terms of really what's clear in the public eye. So for me, the Mercedes is the biggest letdown of the year. And it was pretty much my favourite livery other than the Renault last year. What are you going for in this one, Harry?

Biggest letdown. Yeah, I've got a couple here. I think Mercedes is there. And I, you know, good with the reason. Sam said, love the black livery last year. and I think even if they had gone back to full silver, I don't think it would have been mad. I think I would have been happy with that.

But this is kind of both, and it doesn't work. I don't like the AMG stuff either. It's just too in your face. But, you know, it's still a pretty good looking car. And, you know, when it's lapped the entire field after the first race and it's crossed the line, it'll still pretty look quite good. So my biggest let down I'm going to go for is Moscow. F1 because

we've moaned at you for years now to stop being grey you did it one year because you got a sponsor who was run by Plonker and that went badly so then you had to go back to grey again and you've got all this opportunity to be the big American racing team and I know there are so many circumstances involved here but still you could have been so American with your livery and instead you've got a Russian flag on your car

and I don't care what anyone says it's a goddamn Russian flag in absolute bin so it's just a letdown because again for hats it could have been so much more this was the time new drivers we'll ignore who they are

but you know new drivers new investment they could have done something cool and they've not so sorry Gunther love you Gunther but no I'm not rushing to disagree with you ha Oh, Lord.

Before I go on to my biggest letdown, I like the Haas. Oh, you can get the bin as well then, Ben. Yeah. Not necessarily what it stands for and what it basically is trying to be, but from a pure livery perspective, I think it's quite nice.

I think it's quite simple. Obviously, the lack of sponsors is a reason it's so simple. You're simple. Because, say, if Ben was a livery, it would be the Haas. This is probably true. white boy it

damn he got me with that and to think I was going to agree with you actually I will still agree with you I'm going to go with Mercedes here as well Mercedes is the one and only livery on the grid this year where if they did a carbon copy of what they had in 2020 I would not have been disappointed whatsoever

because the car is still fresh and the design was so radically different last year that if they did it for a second year it's still, it's not like the Red Bull where they've been doing it year on year on year. So I would have been perfectly fine with exactly the same thing. And I'm really glad that they actually did stick with the sort of black baseline for the car. Yeah, that AMG stuff, it ruins it. It just sticks out like a sore thumb.

You get rid of that. I think this is a great livery again. So I'm a bit let down that I think they've gone backwards on where they were last year. Yeah, I completely agree. Just while we're going through these, folks, let's know your thoughts, of course. In the comments on YouTube, if you're listening there, sure on the podcast, go over to at L breaking on Twitter. Tell us your top 10.

Well, maybe we'll do a tweet after this, and you can reply to it if you fancy. Or not, maybe I'll forget. Tweet and comment your support for my view on the Hass livery, please. No. They're flooding in already. Worst livery, the creme de la creme, the one that they all don't want to win. what are you going for Sam worst livery 2021

oh I had so much hope I had so much hope that the rumours look good the sponsorship low miner promising a team outfit the team wear look really good too and then you deliver a livery that looks like

I creating it as the base template on the F1 game and I hadn't unlocked any other livery styles it's like it's been done a mobile phone by a child who knows how to hit the fill button. Williams have not had a good livery for at least a decade now. I'm sorry, I know it's a bold shout. Everyone loves that martini thing. I thought it was so boring. And this is just an evolution of ugly rubbish. And it is rubbish. It is white and blue again, but it is such an ugly shade of blue for a start. And then they've gone,

Oh, shall we put a line of orange on it? Why? Why? Why bother? Why? So, no, ugly. Don't like it. It's rubbish.

And it's rubbish. So it's rubbish. Not a fan of the Williams at all. Well, we know, Harry, you're not going to pick the Williams based on your previous comments about them. But who are you going to pick? I mean, just to stand up for Williams here, I agree. It's not the best liver on the grid. by a long shot.

But blue and white were their colours and everyone's kind of come along and nicked it off them. And I feel for Williams. They were here first. I'm starting a petition. No blue and white on the grid for one season. Just one, please.

Change it up. There's enough colours in the world that you don't need blue and white together. Okay. You heard Sam, everyone. For me, I am the worst delivery for me. and I can't believe I'm saying it because I love this team but it's the Ferrari

I just there's so much yeah there's so much going on on that car there's there's as Sam says it's comic sans number which I think is the heritage numbers they had last year for the thousandth GP but it's NAF

without the heritage livery the grading from the red to the burgundy and I like the Burndy a lot but if you're going to do one or the other, like don't do the weird grading thing of the back, which people love grading this year. Mercedes's done it too, but yeah, no, don't like that. And then the big old green screen logo on the hood.

What's going on, boys? Horrendous, like just the worst. Yeah, I don't think the past few years Ferrari liveries have been spectacular anyway, and they've made it worse. So that's a good, that's quite an achievement. So, yeah, I'm sad about that. I wish they'd, you know, I always find it hard to say that a Ferrari looks bad

because it's red, it's Ferrari, it just normally does. But this year, we just ask who in the art team when red and green, without white in the middle, definitely go well together? Those of colours that have worked on every combination that have ever been used in the history. Oh wait, no one uses them, apart from Earl Carly, or whatever they're called,

and they didn't even pull it on the hearse. It doesn't work. Well, I mean, yeah, even if they did go for the green, they could have put some white with it, and boom, you got yourself an Italian flag. We like that, that's Ferrari. Yeah. Anyway.

Ferrari is given the... the worst livery by Harry Ead. So, I mean, we're recording this now a quarter to eight or so, British time. So the Ferrari was released, I don't know, was it about six hours ago, something like that, it was the last of the 10 liveries to go out. As you may or may not know, when we do a recording, whether that'd be a podcast or a video, I'd do a little bit of prep, I'll write down some notes. And I'll generally do that on the morning of or even the evening before. So I did the same thing. before the Ferrari was released. Now, naturally, because it hadn't been released,

I couldn't really give out the awards at that moment in time. I couldn't give out Best Livery because I hadn't seen the Ferrari yet. Apart from one, I gave Williams the worst livery before the Ferrari was released because I was that confident that the one thing Ferrari does not screw up is liveries. And they have proven, yet again, never believe in Ferrari, because they will let you down in every single department. It's so agamated. They found a way to be bad at liveries.

You can screw up pit stops and strategies all you want, Ferrari, and you do a lot. But liveries is the one thing you get right year on year. And for the record, it is a great livery, until you put a massive green splodge all over it. Honestly, I mean, leave Shrek saliva alone. What are you doing? Get out of my swamp. Get out of my Ferrari livery. It's one thing I bank on year on year being all right.

Even the worst Ferrari liveries are good. Oh, honestly, just when you thought Ferrari can't find more ways to let you down, they find a new way. Well done, Ferrari. You've won worse livery. Oh wow, I can't believe Ferrari are the biggest voted worst livery. I mean, I'm kind of hoping it goes on track and I go, that green, you know, looks pretty good. I know a lot of people are saying as well because of the mission win our stuff and how it might not actually even appear on the car when we go racing. I think people pointed out that actually last year it didn't appear on the livery once. So we might not even have to endure it,

but we can only review what we see. Also, Ferrari, if you're playing around with colours, fancy doing a yellow one, because, one, it's yellow, and yellow race cars look amazing. And two, you do like yellow. It's on your badge. More so than red, actually.

So if you could give that a go, I'm all for it. I mean, I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion, but Ferrari should always be red. No, it shouldn't I I would not be against I know Sam would be against this because of what the colour is

I would not be in blue on the white and blue livery Oh That's a fair point That is a fair point Ben Admire its beauty You're a sad little man James Don't

Don't care It's a beautiful livery Anyway that's all of our awards Giving out That's Pimp My F1, 2021 done and dusted. All right, moving on to Ferrari and their 2020 season, their worst year in terms of championship position since 1980.

So naturally, they'll be hoping to bounce back at least somewhat in 2021 before the change of regulations in 2022. So, Sam, what do you think is the maximum they could achieve this year? Well, they could win. I race. I couldn't win the Battle of the MIG Field and be third or fourth. I generally think that aiming to get themselves back to kind of,

and not close to Rebel and Mercedes, but third, beating the rest around them is probably where they need to be looking. Going into this new era, of course, we're getting the engine freeze, the budget caps coming in, we're having the change of aerodynamics and how the cars are made. I think Ferrari, notoriously, have struggled where new eras have come in. probably the only time they've really picked it up was when old Shimi decided to ascend

upon the Italian legends and look what was born, history. Other than that, they've not exactly been too prolific in the last 40 years of racing and I think they need to kind of start picking themselves up, be consistent and maybe look at what Haas are doing and that is just kind of forgetting this year

and focusing on that new era because they are behind, they are struggling. So I think realistically with the line-up that they've got, which is incredibly talented, It's really eager, massively ambitious. I think Lecleron science can deliver consistent good results if they've got the car to do so. Ferrari, if they were to get third or fourth,

I think they've had a successful season considering where they were last year. Harry, what do you reckon on this sixth place last year? So what's the maximum they can achieve this year? Yeah, I think I'm in agreement with Sam. I think if they can almost return to the status quo of the top three, for this year, I think that'll be a good year for them.

I don't think they're going to return to winning ways necessarily, but I would imagine that car is going to be quicker. I mean, dear God, if it's not quicker, they're in a world of pain. But, yeah, I think third. I don't know what this. I think it'll be tough because we saw how tight it was that battle for third last year with King of McLaren, Racing Point, now Aster Martin,

Renault now, Arpin, all vying for that third place, they're going to have their work cut out of Ferrari. So, yeah, I think it's definitely achievable, but it's going to be a tough year. It's going to be a difficult one for them. I think a lot of God LeClair is going to have to happen if they want third. The Messiah. What a man.

What a man. Sorry, not a man. A God. Yeah, I think this is largely going to be down to, I think there's a few factors in here, really, that's going to determine what their see. season looks like. And I would agree with you both that I think the maximum they could achieve is third place. And I think it is plausible. Given the money that they invest in Formula One,

there really isn't any reason for them to be outside of, I would say, the top two, but definitely not the top three. If you think about the likes of Astor Martin and Alpine who they'll be racing, you know, they're spending twice, three times as much as these guys. And really, really at that point, you only need to be less than three times more inefficient, which really isn't asking that much. But when it comes to Ferrari, they still find a way. We do have to remember that their 2020 season, whilst it was bad and it was dreadful by their standards, it still wasn't dreadful by normal standards. You know, they still score podiums. They still did score points. They got sixth place.

so it wasn't an all-out disaster. So they have some sort of starting point here. LeClair's got another year of experience under his belt. That's going to help. Carlos Sines, that's probably another big factor as to how well they'll do. We know that Leclair was able to fit like a glove, really, when he came into Ferrari. He hit it almost from the off.

Remember, he had a pole position at his second race in a Ferrari. Can signs, I'm not saying signs can do the same thing as that, but can signs get adjusted pretty quickly? That's going to be a big factor. but considering how much they were down last year, the most important factor is the power unit. We can't go outside of that. I think they were about 60, 70 break horsepower down last year

compared to some of their rivals. And naturally, if you are that much slower in terms of your power unit, you're going to struggle. It makes sense. So I think it depends how much of that they recover. If they recover all of it, brilliant. They should be in a position to be third again. If they recover half of it, maybe that's enough.

Who knows? But I've stated this quite a few times for Ferrari, and the message doesn't change here. The power unit is their number one issue that they need to solve. But if they think that is their only issue, they are never going to win again, because it is a long way from being the only thing that's wrong with that team. And it's a really easy thing to do. Case in point, McLaren, a few years ago, they pinned all of their struggles on the Honda engine. and it was a foolish thing to do.

Because as soon as Honda went out the door and as soon as Honda started improving, it proved that, yes, it wasn't a very good power unit, but there were many struggles with the team outside of that. And Ferrari are in the same position. We've seen already that not only a good power unit can't give them the title, we've seen them have an extraordinary power unit

that was definitely within the confines of the legal system within F1, and that wasn't enough for them to win. So, you know, there are other problems mainly to do with the structure and strategy of the team that they need to focus on as well. I think third place is plausible, but, you know, Aston Martin, Alpine, McLaren, they'll all have reason to be confident. Let's move on. The weight can't be anymore, Sam. Oh, buzzing. It's your favourite. It is F1, TikTok on the clock. Sing that, Kingo!

It's F1 on the clock! Okay. go. So we played this one a couple of weeks back. So Harry and Sam will each have one minute on the clock to answer as many questions as they can. I've actually changed up the format slightly. So you'll have a maximum of 10 questions until you run out. Just the word of advice, Sam, based on last time, you are allowed to pass at any time. I don't have to stay on the same question for 55 seconds. You can tell I wouldn't be good on an actual game show. we've we've gone 40 minutes over the runtime sam are you going to give us an answer

uh sam we're going to go to an outbreak um oh it's not Perez I love it um yeah so you'll each get one minute on the clock 10 questions maximum um whoever gets the most wins pretty straightforward so um who wants to go first on this one um Harry wants to go first Harry's going to go first. Wow, yes. Now, you did very well at this last time, Harry. I've got to say, I was impressed.

You managed to get all of the questions that you answered right. So you've got a lot of pressure to do the same again here. Do you want set A or set B? I'll go for set A, please. Set A. At A, Kamara. You had set B last time, so for you have set B last time. so theoretically you're not

you're not going to do as well but we'll see. Oh no. Are you ready? Yes. All right. One minute on the clock. Three, two, one.

Who did Sebastian Vettel call a cucumber in 2012? There ain't Carter Cain. Correct. In which season did Rubens Barrichello retire from F1? Ooh,

uh, 2011? Correct. Who filled in for Michael Schumacher in 1999 after he broke his leg? Um, um, um, Mika Sarlow. Correct. Who finished third in the 2015 F1 season? Oh my, my God. Fembe Vette? Correct. How many championships did Bruce McLaren win?

Oh God. Um, oh my God. Pick a number. Pick a number. one? None. He didn't win any. Oh, damn it. The Nuremberg Ring. The Nervoerring hosted two Grand Prix under what name in 1997 and 1998?

The Luxembourg GP. Correct. And last one time is just gone. Which team did Damon Hill last race for? Eddie Jordan. Jordan, F1. Big Jordan. Of course. So, very well done. You managed to get through seven questions. you didn't get the Bruce McLaren one right, so you got six, correct.

Do you want to hear something really fun? You'd have got all of them. I've got one. Is it the one Harry didn't get? No, no, because I said one as well on that one. It was the cucumber question. Of course, Noreen. All right, that leaves you the set B, Sam.

Let's get more than one. Come on, I know you can do it. All right. One minute on the clock starting in three, two, one. Where was the European Grand Prix held in 1993? I'm going to say it was held in Great Britain. It was, Donnington Park. Where did Max Verstappen claim his second Grand Prix win?

Brazil. It was Malaysia. Who was Ayrton Senna's teammate at McLaren in 1990? 91 and 92. Oh, I don't know. Pass. Yeah, Hart Burger. In which year did John Eric Verne debut in F1?

Oh, 2006. 2012. Close. Which track would you find the Adelaide Hairpin? Oh, Melbourne. It's Magnicor. What? What are it?

Which British driver raced for Super Aguirre? Oh, Anting Davidson. Correct. And last one. Last one. You've got your two. Can you get three? Which team did Red Bull buy in order to enter F1? Oh, bags.

I'm afraid that's not. That's not correct. Oh, I don't know. A spiker. It's not spiker. You said it earlier. Jaguar. Jaguar. Oh, Jaggers. McJagger. Big Jag.

Hey, look, I've doubled my score. Next week, we'll go for one more. Exactly. We're building this up. Yeah, too, which means Harry is the winner. So what I'm Harry? Can we do a child-friendly version for me and other people who struggle against clocks? Yes.

No worries. Get in. F-1, not on the clock. F-1, but for children. That would be like a four-hour podcast, so maybe a... maybe at another point. Anyway, play the jingle. It's F1 on the clock.

That's a bot, guys. That is a bob. That's going to do it for this episode. We are well on the way to F1 returning. F1 is coming back for testing this weekend. We've got Drive to Survive coming up. We've got our predictions that are on their way in terms of driver's championship

and Constructors' Championship. We've got a lot coming. Sam, if you wouldn't mind for now, getting us harder here. Folks, I'm sure you did better than me on set A and on set B. If you've got more than three, do let us know. That was my score combined on both sets. It was great, wasn't it?

It still less than Harry's. I hope you've enjoyed it. It's been a fun one. Let's know your favourite liveries, of course, for number four. Can Ferrari do well this season? Can they get better than sixth place? Can they beat McLaren,

Aston Martin and Alpine? There's a lot of cars in there that are quite good. So let's know what you think. Testing coming up. And drive to slow, as Ben said. We're going to be chatting about all of those things. So make sure you stay tuned. Thank you very much for your support and going to the new season.

We hope we can carry on building on that. In the meantime, I've been Samuel to save. I've been Ben Hocking. I've been get a hard burger. Remember, deep a raken light. The podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.